Hoid??

[Reaves]

Well if Hoid is going to end up in any of the future Mistborn books then we at least know he is practically immortal.

[Alatar]

Well, as I said I'm still reading the HoA spoilers thread and I just read this you should have commented to death:

This is slightly a tangent, but here is a relevant chunk from the Warbreaker Annotations.  As this won't be posted for months, I'll put it here as a sneak preview.

Chapter Thirty-Two
"This whole scene came about because I wanted an interesting way to delve into the history.  Siri needed to hear it, and I felt that many readers would want to know it.  However, that threatened to put me into the realm of the dreaded info dump.

And so I brought in the big guns.  This cameo is so obvious (or, at least, someday it will be) that I almost didn’t use the name Hoid for the character, as I felt it would be too obvious.  The first draft had him using one of his other favorite pseudonyms.  However, in the end, I decided that too many people would be confused (or, at least, even more confused) if I didn’t use the same name.  So here it is.  And if you have no idea what I’m talking about. . .well, let’s just say that there’s a lot more to this random appearance than you might think."

From BS dated 19 october 2008.

So.... I think it is ok to have different lines of thought in theories, but that this clearly points to him being the same character in every world, so he must be travelling from world to world. Taking into account that every book happens in a different "universe chronology", he can be in every series being the same man.
And he hasn't to be powerful in all of them. For example, if Elantris is the "oldest" (in universe chronology) story, he could just be a beggar who later in the series obtains his power. Same if Mistborn is the oldest. He could just be a skaa and later on he got his power to travel. It is pretty obvious that Warbreaker is not an old story in BS universe (maybe we will find Scadriel travellers landing in Warbreaker's lands?) 

I really believe we will know of him later on, and that the one story we hear from him being able to travel through worlds will be one of the "oldest" one.

[little wilson]

Hmm. There's something in that quote that catches my eye. "Using one of his other favorite pseudonyms."...I distinctly remember that Brandon said Hoid was in WoA, because all I could think was "No, he's not" and I was really surprised. But Brandon insisted that he was in there....Now I'm thinking that maybe he's in there under a different name...which is really confusing, but kinda cool at the same time.

And Ook, that spaceship thing would be awesome. I'd pay a lot of money to see some Allomancy/Feruchemy interaction with other magic systems. I know it won't happen, but it would be really cool if it did.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

So I guess someone needs to go through WoA looking for someone who could be Hoid using a pseudonym.

[little wilson]

I'd do it, but my sister-in-law still has my copy....maybe I can steal my dad's hardback...I'm sure he won't mind...although he'll probably call me a dork, since that's what he seems to think of my obsession with Mistborn.

[Alatar]

Yes but.... what do we have to look for?
I can't remember right now any informant or storyteller in WoA, which would be the typical choice. I don't think he would be a noble or assemblyman, he seems to be always fairly down in the chain, but other than that, I can't think of any clue who can be useful to find Hoid.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Anyone whose mention in the book seems suspicious. Someone who does or says something and is never seen again.

[melbatoast]

Ok, I skimmed through WoA and I still don't know who Hoid is. Some possibilities:

the dressmaker
wolfhound merchant
Noorden? the obligator who helps out with the government, but I think he shows up in the next book. And he has tattoos.
Granny ?, (sneaks people out of the city) except she's a woman and seems to have been around for quite a while
random skaa that Sazed meets before coming to Luthadel, but I don't know what Hoid would be doing in the middle of nowhere
Terris person from the group that flees to Luthadel, but not likely he could infiltrate that quickly

This was just a quick skim, so I probably missed him somewhere. Someone else should look through WOA and see what they think. Or maybe Ookla could just tell us all.   

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I don't think any of those 6 people are likely to be Hoid. Definitely not Noorden; he does show up later.

I don't know the answer. I'm inclined to think he's just not there in WoA. I could be wrong, of course, since I didn't notice him appearing in more than one book until I read Warbreaker at the same time as the first part of Liar of Partinel.

[melbatoast]

Too bad. I'm pretty sure that I saw someone mention in the HoA thread that Brandon listed the books Hoid was in at a signing and WoA was in there. Anyway, someone else can try looking for it.

[little wilson]

Yeah, when I saw Brandon in Idaho Falls, he said that Hoid was in WoA....And a part of me believes him, and thinks that he must be using an alias, but another part of me thinks Brandon can't remember which books in Hoid-verse he HASN'T appeared in, and so lumps them all together....but since the only time I've met Brandon is that one time, I don't know how likely that inclination is...

[melbatoast]

Most likely it was just too subtle for me to notice on my skim-through. In HoA, he's only mentioned for a couple of paragraphs.

[Natalie Perkins]

I'll see if I can find it, I am writing a term paper on the book after all. I don't know if I'm gonna do another read through though, but if I do I'll keep an eye out

[zas678]

I think I found someone that might be Hoid in WoA!!
Here's the quote:

A voice, however, stopped her. The speaker was a middle-aged man with an ash-stained beard and a dirty cap held nervously in his hands. He was a storng man, probably a mill worker. His quiet voice seemed a contrast to hist powerful build. "Lady Heir. What will become of us?"
              The terror--the uncertainty--in the large man's voice was so piteous that Vin hestitated. He regarded her with hopeful eyes, as did most of the others.

pg 229 WoA

The bearded  at the front continued to twist his cap, however, looking at Vin.  "They're right frightened Lady Heir. Right frightened."

pg 230 WoA

Right after this,  Vin said that she would help the people, and protect as best she could.  It is the first time she says anything like it to the people (if I remember right)


Since I was looking through books, I decided to put these in too:



Here is FE Hoid:

The scrawny bald man bowed deeply in the misty night.

pg 268 FE

Here is Elantris Hoid:

Sarene had never seen his face, but she assumed from his voice that he was an old man.

pg. 562

Here is the descirption of Hoid from Warbreaker:
[quoteHe waved his hand, and an elderly man with an extraordinarily long white beard approached.

pg  430 Warbreaker 6.1

As she looked more closely, she could tell that he wasn’t quite as old as he seemed at first glance.  The beard must be a badge of his profession, and while it didn’t appear to be fake, she suspected that it had been bleached.  He was much really younger than he wanted to appear.

pg 431 Warbreaker 6.1

[Renoard]

I thought it was settled that Jade was Hoid?