Max is a Shadowblade, a supernatural--and supernaturally competent--warrior bound to protect her witch Giselle. As a Shadowblade, Max doesn't age. She is better, faster, stronger than any ordinary human being. And she hates it. Giselle betrayed her trust to make Max what she is, and though she is magically compelled to protect Giselle and follow orders, Max works against her witch in every way she can. Continue reading Bitter Night
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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.)
"Master Terrisman," Elend said, standing outside the Terris camp in the soft red morning light. "If I can give you one final bit of advice, it is that you must turn back. You don't have the resources to feed a population this size, and you cannot forage with any kind of effectiveness this time of year."
The aged steward, Vedlew, shook his head. He stood with two other stewards, leaning on his staff. "We must see if King Venture will take us in. Terris is in need of allies. You cannot understand what it is like to have charge of a people. . .to know that they look to you, despite your failings. We will manage. If what you say is true, then it is only a few weeks travel south to Luthadel."
"Two weeks for us two," Elend said. "Men in good health, travelling light. It's the middle of winter, Master Terrisman! If you continue, your people will either starve or freeze."
The old man paused at this. "What else would you have us do? Return to face those creatures who have taken our city?"
"Yes," Elend said firmly. "Now is not the time to fight. It will come, my friend. But for now, you must be patient."
"The Terris have been patient for far too long, I think."
"Then you are practiced at it," Elend said. "I have always had great respect for Terris wisdom, Master Vedlew. Do not prove my faith wrong now. I cannot tell you everything, but Lord Venture will contact you soon. There will be a time to resist the Inquisitors. For now, however, you have to see that your people don't die in the wilderness."
Vedlew looked at one of his companions. The taller steward—who looked much like Sazed save in the face—shrugged.
"We will consider your suggestion, young man," Vedlew said.
The Kandra.
Yes, they live. The people were smart enough, eventually, to replace their spikes. (And there were a couple who were on assignment who made it to storage caches.)
However, there will likely never be any more of them, since Hemalurgy is required to make them. They are now some of the few people who can communicate directly with Sazed, who--like Ruin--can whisper to people most easily when they are connected to him via spikes. With some speculation, you can probably guess what kind of roles the Kandra will end up playing in future books.
There ARE still koloss around, though many of them were vaporized. Human is alive. Sazed took pity on them, however, and they have been transformed. They are now a race that breeds true, like the Kandra, and have different thought processes from what they once had. You'll see more of them in the sequel series.
I think I'm doing what you said Peter, actually I'm pretty sure that's what I'm doing I just suck at explaining it.
Ima stick with the theory that you have become obsessive and have modified your genes so that your mouth can now handle a whole new way of speaking.
Elaborate......
Hmm... One wonders if there will ever be a book that details exactly what happened, and what Hoid's (Elvis's) role in the whole thing was. Or perhaps the body of work that happens around Hoid will become so massive that even from the tiny glimpses each affords us, we'll be able to piece the whole thing together. Mayhaps we will wind up with a massive several world crossover wherein all of our favorite characters put Adolnasium back together again. .... That sounds like really bad fan-fiction.But I bet Brandon could do it! Of course, the real answer probably surpasses my puny imaginings by a great deal.
Also I wondered whether you will ever publish an encyclopoedia of your interlocking worlds and their relationship to each other within their cosmos?
I plan to do something like this, as things progress. It won't happen until the future, however, and will likely happen only on-line. There will eventually be short stories showing some of what is going on behind the main stories of the novels. I do have some novels planned which would deal with all of this in a more direct way, but they are decades away from being written.
The man who died before Vin took over was named Leras. (I've occasionally written it as Laras. I've said the names in my head for years, but I'm only now writing them down as people ask me on forums.) Leras, like Ati (aka Ruin), were NOT Adonalsium. (Sorry about the typo on that one in MB3. I wrote it down on the manuscript, and it didn't get put in quite right. We'll get it fixed.).(emphasis added by me)
I do have a cohesive metaphysical reasoning for how my worlds and magic works. And there is a single plane of existence--called Shadesmar, the Cognative Realm--which connects them all.
You will never need to know any of this to read and enjoy my books, but there is an overarching story behind all of them, going on in the background. Adonalsium, Hoid, the origin of Ati, Leras, the Dor, and the Voice (from Warbreaker) are all tied up in this.
common character appearing in all of the books
