Timewaster's Guide Archive

Who is Hoid in WoA? We (TWG) have found some candidates:
     
Wolfhound merchant
Terris person that Elend meets after Vin went back to Luthadel
Teur or old Jed (the two Skaa in the first Sazed chapter)
Crazy canibal Skaa (I doubt it though)
     
We already know it isn't the man who discovered duralumin, or the skaa leader outside the dress shop, or the old skaa who waits with the Holy First Witness when the koloss attack.
     
I think those were all of the characters that we found as candidates.

People are really close to this one, and I noticed that later in this thread, you or someone else mentioned the footprints in the deleted scene.
 
Hoid's appearance in MB:WA is a little unlike the others.  When the scene at the Well was moved in revision, one of Hoid’s  major influences on the book had to go  (For various reasons.) Left in the book is only one little hint, really.  A character notices something odd about someone, but doesn't dwell on it.  You can probably find the line if you look very closely.
 
Let me say this.  Hoid got wrapped up in things he didn't expect to be involved in, and they dominated much of his time during the events of MB:WA.  He spent most of the book in a different place from most of the viewpoint characters.  He's only near them for a very short time, and he's deeply in disguise.  I couldn't include his name, as he'd never have used the name "Hoid" for himself there, because it wouldn't have been right for the disguise.  He'd have used another pseudonym.  (He didn't, by the way, mention one.)
 
I've probably said too much already.  Now, perhaps what people should asking me is this: “What Hoid has been up to in all of these books?”  Or, maybe they shouldn't ask me, as I wouldn't be likely to answer.  (There are clues in the novels, however.)  No, he’s not just hanging out.  Yes, I know what he’s been doing.  Will I write his scenes some day?  Maybe.  We’ll see.  There may be short stories posted on my website.

So, Brandon. Hoid. I remember you saying at the I.F. signing last year that he was in WoA. We, your dedicated fans who like scouring books searching for obscure characters who have any possibility of being the mysterious Hoid, have yet to find him. Peter sent us on a hunt for him (Hoid, not Peter...) in the deleted scenes, and we found his boot-print.

Now, I think he broke the pottery there too--the one holding the larasium--and since there's broken pottery in the actual version, I think he may have snuck into the cavern and broken it as well. If so, is this Hoid's part in WoA? This trace of him? I commend you if it is. It is clever, making us think it was a person, when in fact it's just something he did.

You are on the right track, but wrong on one point.  Hoid does appear in the book.

I had originally toyed with making his touch on the novel more obscure, but decided that I wanted to be consistent with the other novels by actually having him appear.  Once I realized I’d probably cut the scene with the footprint, I decided I needed this actual appearance even more badly.

Fortunately, 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.  In WoA, Hoid believed (as Vin did) that the Well was in the North, even though it was not.  He spent much of the book pursuing this idea.

Through events, however, he discovered he was wrong.  He made the realization after Vin did, but only because of a chance meeting.  (This is recorded in the books.  Let’s just say he was listening in when someone implied that the Well was in Luthadel.)

He hurried to Luthadel, and was in the town, skulking about in the last parts of the novel.  He isn’t seen here, though he does still infiltrate the Well.  (Hoid is quite proficient at manipulating Shadesmar for his own ends.)

• Pop up in random spots, Being a different character(username) each time, but still having the still pictue (old man)
• Anything else the HoA deems me worthy to do, such as declaring war on the Church of Kaz