Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Shadmere on January 19, 2011, 08:41:09 PM
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Did the Lord Ruler have a spike in his chest? I'm talking about it with someone, but neither of us have the books anywhere near where we could check within a reasonable amount of time. I hate going to the net to ask a simple question like this, but my Googling was getting me nowhere! :P
If he did, was it a hemalurgic spike?
Thanks. :)
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I don't think so. It never actually says but Marsh did not find one in his back. The reason his Allomancy was so strong is he was like Elend and had an original piece of Preservation that gave him the mistborn powers. He did not have it diluted by impure blood. He also had Feruchemistry to compliment it. He was so strong already, he did not need the spikes.
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Yeah, I didn't remember anything like that, but my girlfriend insists he had a large spike in his chest. "Like Zane's but bigger." (She just finished the second book.)
It's been a year since I've read the book, so I wanted to make sure I was right before I told her that there was no thing. I know he was pierced, but I think that was just to keep his feruchemical metals from being pulled off.
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If he'd had a hemalurgic spike, Ruin would have bad certain level of control over him. I think Ati was able to whisper words in his mind, but nothing like Zane's false interpretation of God.
Moreover, Lord Ruler's powers were described as clever use of allomancy and feruchemy - no mentions about hemalurgy whatsoever. There is also lordofsoup's argument that he was strong enough - arguably the strongest allomancer (up until Vin?), so he would have no need for a spike. So I'd wager no, he didn't have one.
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I might be remembering this incorrectly.. but didn't the Lord Ruler have his Feruchemy bands pierced into his arms in some way? I feel like I remember reading that, and Vin literally ripping them out of his skin.. Its also quite possible that the years its been since I read Mistborn have tainted my memory haha.
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Yeah, they were pierced into his skin so that it was (almost) impossible for them to be Pulled or Pushed.
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Yeah, so I'd assume Ati had some affect on him.. I mean if Vin's ear ring can let him make some changes.. I'm sure that Ati could affect The Lord Ruler over a thousand years. It would seem a little strange to me if Ati didn't try to alter the course of The Lord Ruler.
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I always figured TLR was so powerful because he pretty much was an allomantic savant in all the metals. He lived for a long time and had plenty of resources, it seems like if he was constantly flaring his soothing power all the time it would give it the effect it needed. Especially since in one of the annotations Brandon says vin is more powerful, like TLR but for different reasons which we discover later. IMO that is the savant thing that comes up in book 3.
Also, since it came up. Was the spike in Zane's chest ever described to the point that we know what metal it was and what ability he got from it?
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Brandon mentioned somewhere that Zane's spike is responsible for his exceptional precision with Pushes.
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It was steel, hence the remarkable control he has when Pushing and Pulling that Vin remarks on.
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It was steel, hence the remarkable control he has when Pushing and Pulling that Vin remarks on.
That's what I figured but wondered if it was ever confirmed.
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As far as I remember, the Lord Ruler was only spiked with his Feruchemical storages so that he could always have them and thus keep up his power.
Hemalurgy gave him power, but just because he knew how to create Inquisitors and Koloss, which he could in turn control using his pure Allomancy. I don't think he was stupid enough to do it to himself.
I agree with others, though, that the piercings he did have (the feruchemical ones) gave Ruin access to his mind. That's probably part of why he turned out such a lousy ruler. Ruin twisted his perceptions so much, he thought randomly killing Skaa was justice...
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It has been a while since I read this, but doesn't "contact with Ruin" require a hemalurgic spike? Just any type of metal in the body is not enough from what I gathered. The "implants" the Lord Ruler had were only to prevent anyone Pulling or Pushing them.
If any metal in the body would work, Ruin could speak to anyone who swallowed some metal...
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It has been a while since I read this, but doesn't "contact with Ruin" require a hemalurgic spike? Just any type of metal in the body is not enough from what I gathered. The "implants" the Lord Ruler had were only to prevent anyone Pulling or Pushing them.
If any metal in the body would work, Ruin could speak to anyone who swallowed some metal...
That's right, although he also has some influence over people who are mentally unstable. That's how he got Zane to spike himself. Rashek was a violence prone, angry person to begin with, and ruling an empire for several hundred years may have worn down his sanity somewhat. He most likely made the first Koloss and Kandra personally, which also could unhinge someone.
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I don't think it has to be a spike, per se... Ruin was able to influence Vin through her earring, and Spook through a splinter. It has to be piercing the body, but it doesn't need to be a spike of the sort used for the Inquisitors.
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I don't think it has to be a spike, per se... Ruin was able to influence Vin through her earring, and Spook through a splinter. It has to be piercing the body, but it doesn't need to be a spike of the sort used for the Inquisitors.
Functionally, both of those were spikes. They were both hemalurgically imbued, and they both granted or enhanced an Allomantic power. They may have been smaller and less obvious than an Inquisitor's spikes, but they served the same purposes.
I'm pretty sure Brandon at least implied in one of the annotations that Rashek had enough mental instability and/or hemalurgic spiking, regardless of how much each contributed, for Ruin to talk to him and exert at least a little influence. Rashek did at least know the full deal about exactly who and what Ruin was, so he was on guard and knew to consciously dismiss Ruin's suggestions, but he still had to deal with it constantly for 1000 years and that's a major reason why the Final Empire was so dystopian.
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Still not sure how it works, but I found this: http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=6655.msg129157#msg129157
It's a question about exactly this, and the answer from Brandon is: His arm bracers, which pierced his skin, were his spikes.
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According to Spooks letters, any metal piercing your body could be used as a way in by Ruin. We don't know his source of information on this, but as far as I know, it's the only information we have on the subject.
My guess is that Hemalurgically imbued spikes are more effective than random metal, but random metal works.
Also, the metal has to pierce the body for it to have an effect. It probably has to connect to blood for Ruin to get access to the mind. Then Allomantically ingested metals would not have this effect.
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Also, the metal has to pierce the body for it to have an effect. It probably has to connect to blood for Ruin to get access to the mind. Then Allomantically ingested metals would not have this effect.
Neither would an earring, though. That does pierce, but only touches skin.
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Ever pierced an ear? Trust me, there's blood involved there. :)
I think you're probably right, blood is the key (it is, after all, "hemalurgy"... the etymology pretty much states "blood magic").
Offhand, can anyone recall what Vin's earring looks like? Is it a ring or a stud? For whatever reason I always saw it as a ring, but I can't recall exactly... and a stud is, in essence, a tiny spike.
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Offhand, can anyone recall what Vin's earring looks like? Is it a ring or a stud? For whatever reason I always saw it as a ring, but I can't recall exactly... and a stud is, in essence, a tiny spike.
Not only is it a stud, but it is a stud that looks particularly like a tiny spike.
There are several times where a comment about how it has no backing, but the pin is bent down to hold it in the ear, and one reference at the end of the series where someone comments about it looking particularly like a spike. I loaned out my books or I would find the quote for you.
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Also, the metal has to pierce the body for it to have an effect. It probably has to connect to blood for Ruin to get access to the mind. Then Allomantically ingested metals would not have this effect.
Neither would an earring, though. That does pierce, but only touches skin.
At some point I do remember someone saying that the spike needs to touch blood at first. Ditto on loaning out my books... I really need to hunt down the person I gave those to, it's been months now.