The Comprehensive Hemalurgy Thread

[Comatose]

Sorry I wasn't clear, when I said the Lord Ruler didn't let Skaa breed, I was referring to the fact that the nobility weren't supposed to breed with them.  It could be that the Lord Ruler didn't want the Skaa to become Allomancers, but why would her care?  He's stronger than any mistborn anyway, and there's only been two skaa mistborn.  Of course, Vin did end up defeating him, but that's not because she's skaa, unless drawing on the mists is a skaa power as well?  Maybe drawing on the mists is Skaa magic in it's pure form, and that's why they The Lord Ruler didn't want them to get allomancy, because only someone wielding the mists and allomancy could challenge him, and Hemalurgy is just the process of transferring the power of the mists from the skaa to the inquisitors, and that's why the mists pull away from them, because they are unnatural.  Interesting Theory, eh??

[Cosmic_AC]

Has anyone noticed the similarities between the word Hemallurgy and Metallurgy? It's possible this is the word Brandon twisted to come up with this name. Metallurgy, as some of you may know already, is the study of metals. You can probably see where I'd draw the connection.

Of course, this doesn't mean much—I just thought I'd mention it.

Feruchemy = Ferrus (iron, but the meaning can generalize to just "metals") + Alchemy (chemical magic).

Allomancy = Alloy (homogeneous mixture of pure elements, mostly metals) + --Mancy (magic).

Hemallurgy = Hemoglobin (a form of iron in the blood which has the unusual property of not being magnetic) + Metallurgy (study of metals, as you said).

EUOL just combined various words to name his magic systems, and the names fit.  Especially with what we know of the connection between Hemallurgy and blood.

Also, Comatose, I had the same idea: Feruchemy is exclusively Terris while Allomancy is exclusively "Noble" (whatever clan they are supposed to be).  Would it be too much of a stretch for Hemallurgy to be normally Skaa?  Especially with what we know of the Lord Ruler's breeding laws, it seems as though he didn't want anyone born who could combine two or more "metal magics".  Perhaps the blood sacrifice needed to create Inquisitors absolutely has to come from Skaa blood?

Ooh, one more thought.  There's been a lot of discussion of how Vin being a Hemallurgist doesn't "explain" her being able to draw on the mists.  Well, what if Hemallurgy worked similarly to Feruchemy -- that is, it could be reversed for another sort of power.  So if she used Hemallurgy before to enhance her Bronze, maybe she pushed away some mists and didn't realize it.  And then when she lost her earring maybe the power worked in reverse -- drawing mists in for power.  Pure speculation, but it's fun to think about.

[Comatose]

the prefix hema is also used in hemaphobia (hemophobia?, I forget the spelling, sorry), the fear of blood. 

[darxbane]

Right, and Hematology is the study of blood.

[Comatose]

Hemalurgy almost sounds more like a process than an actual magic system, perhaps inquisitors DO just use allomancy, but the process used to create them, and make them powerful is called hemalurgy.  I'm beginning to like my skaa hemalurgy sacrifice theory more and more.

[Chaos]

My rereading of MB1 has told me some things about the Steel Inquisitors. One thing is that Inquisitors sleep a lot. This hasn't been talking about in this topic, so I'm bringing it up now. I would suspect that this is partially where they get their healing powers--by sleeping a lot. Or, it could be that those spikes really hurt and they need to sleep to get over the pain.

Maybe, also, we should discuss why separating the spikes on an Inquisitor kills them. It could lead to some Hemalurgical revelations.

I am also now thinking that Vin's mom's "blood sacrifice" to make Vin a supposed Hemalurgist is fairly... mundane. Inquisitors require a lot of blood and lots of victims to create--but then again, their Hemalurgy is no doubt far more powerful than Vin's. But still. More blood and more sacrifice means more Hemalurgical abilities.

Hemalurgy by being a skaa power is interesting... and I love it so much .

[Comatose]

Maybe the blood sacrifices releases the power in the Skaa blood, and imbeds it in the spikes, and the Inquisitors sleeping is them drawing more of this power out of the spikes, like the lord ruler, sort of.  And thier allomancy is just normal allomancy, but strengthened by hemalurgy.  Maybe hemalurgy just superpowers talents that are already there.  I think if we're going to assume that Vin is a hemalurgist, we must also assume that inquisitors burn metals, because Vin burns bronze despite the hemalurgic earing that strengthens her bronze.  Vin kind of got the bonus here, she's a mistborn, but skaa, so she can still draw on the mist, and she also has the hemalurgic earring to boost her allomantic powers, so she can kind of be both.
Oh, and that could actually make Alendi a potential hemalurgist because he wouldn't need allomancy, hemalurgy just strengthened his natural attributes as a warrior, and proabably increase his healing abilities as well.  The one problem with the Vin+Bronze Hemalurgic Earring=Vin piercing copper clouds theory, is that Bronze isn't Vin's only super powered metal, she also has very powerful pewter, if you remember the thug-head explosion incident.  Now was the earring bornze or pewter, I can't remember.

[Chaos]

I am fairly certain the earring is bronze, but without my copy of WoA with me at the moment, I do not have evidence to verify that.

I also came to the realization that the reason Inquisitors have the powers of a Mistborn is because they ate the metal Elend ate, thus granting them that power. It would also make their Allomancy quite powerful, because the Allomancers in the early days were very powerful, according to TenSoon.

Which, by consequence, makes Elend powerful.

[Comatose]

But is he more powerful than Vin or is vin more powerful?  I mean, she's more powerful than the inquisitors now isn't she?  Unless, Vin ate the metal too?  Does it ever say her father was mistborn?

[Chaos]

Not explicitly. Kar implies, however, that Tevidian's line is very pure, and only a line that pure would make a skaa Mistborn.

[Comatose]

Right, and do we ever find out who Kelsier's father is.  There are only two Skaa mistborn, and both turn out to be very powerful, Vin a lot more than Kelsier, but still, Kelsier was pretty amazing compared to everyone else, is this a coincidence, I'm beginning to like my skaa blood idea more and more, while Kelsier couldn't draw on the mist, his skaa blood still strengthened his allomancy.  Skaa blood strengthens allomancy, and can be used thought hemalurgy to strenghten other things as well, which is why the lrod ruler didn't wan t them to mix, he didn't want any extra strong allomancer running around opposing his empire, of course he wasn't as worried about them, because they still couldn't live forever or heal really quick like him, but he still didn't want a lot of them.  And he created the really powerful inquisitors, with a weakness, the back spike, which he could easily exploit because he can push and pull metals inside the body.

[VegasDev]

My rereading of MB1 has told me some things about the Steel Inquisitors. One thing is that Inquisitors sleep a lot. This hasn't been talking about in this topic, so I'm bringing it up now. I would suspect that this is partially where they get their healing powers--by sleeping a lot. Or, it could be that those spikes really hurt and they need to sleep to get over the pain.

Maybe, also, we should discuss why separating the spikes on an Inquisitor kills them. It could lead to some Hemalurgical revelations.

I am also now thinking that Vin's mom's "blood sacrifice" to make Vin a supposed Hemalurgist is fairly... mundane. Inquisitors require a lot of blood and lots of victims to create--but then again, their Hemalurgy is no doubt far more powerful than Vin's. But still. More blood and more sacrifice means more Hemalurgical abilities.

Hemalurgy by being a skaa power is interesting... and I love it so much .

I had discussed this previously, but it didn't take off, probably because I suggested that the Inquisitors may not actually use Hemalurgy. I have my arguments, but I don't want to get into that. Anyway, here is one of my quotes relating to Inquisitors resting and being killed by pulling a spike.

Hemalurgy is used to create Inquisitors, but does that mean that the Inquisitors use Hemalurgy? If they do, then it appears Hemalurgy is a cross between Feruchemy and Allomancy. They can push pull metals and maybe burn atium, but they appear also able to store health like a feruchemist. I believe (I'll have to check when I get home) that it mentions somewhere that the Inquisitors need to rest for long periods of time, presumably to store up health. The rod that is pulled from their backs that kills them probably stores this health. I can't wait for HoA, this speculating is killing me.

[darxbane]

Wow.  We are getting a little out of control here.  Let's clarify a few points:

First, Vin's explosive headbutt was due to a Duralumin enhanced flare of Pewter.  Her piercing of copperclouds was the only definitive strength above Kelsier, and she didn't appear to have any clear advantages over Zane. In fact, when Zane countered with his own duralumin he sent her flying.  Also remember that the only other person we know of who could pierce copper clouds was the Lord Ruler, and he was using all three magic systems.
Second, we know of three "Skaa" Mistborn, not two, and there is no proof that there aren't more out there that we just don't know about.  The only difference between Skaa and Nobles are that the ancesters of the "Nobles" were sympathizers of the Lord Ruler's cause.  Brandon has said that the work Skaa is another word for peasant.  That does not lead me to believe that Skaa are a separate race of human from nobles.

Third, Kar implied that only a relatively pure bloodline would lead to a Skaa Mistborn who was this powerful.  It does not mean that it is impossible for other nobles to bear Skaa Mistborn.  Straff proves that with Zane.  In fact, all of Straff's mistings are also born of Skaa mothers.  The lord ruler didn't want Skaa to become Mistborn because he didn't want his gift given to those who opposed him.

Fourth,  if the Lord Ruler had enough of these allomancy beads to give to  all the noble ancestors and continue to make Inquisitors (they do die after a while), then why all the spikes?  If he wanted a way to control them, why not just the one in the back?  Has anyone thought about the fact that in order to see, an SI would need to burn Iron or steel at all times? 

  I do believe that Elend will be more powerful than Vin. If Tevidian (sp?) was from a very pure line, then there may be little difference, however. 

Finally, I will throw in a theory of my own.  Let's say that Vin's mom did, in fact have Hemallurgy powers of some sort.  There has been no mention of what would happen to a Mistborn's abilities if one of their parents were Hemallurgical.  Maybe that is the source of her overall strength.

[VegasDev]

Her piercing of copperclouds was the only definitive strength above Kelsier

Agreed, however Kelsier noted on more than one occasion how unnaturally strong she was, like when they would get into a pushing match.

Also remember that the only other person we know of who could pierce copper clouds was the Lord Ruler, and he was using all three magic systems.

How do we know he was using all three magic systems again?

Agree on pretty much everything else.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

In fact, all of Straff's mistings are also born of Skaa mothers.

I am pretty sure that all Straff's mistresses in his breeding program were (lesser) nobility and that he was sure to kill any skaa he slept with.