Regarding Hemalurgy:
1) In an annotation from book 1, it is mentioned that The Lord Ruler needed all 3 magic systems in order to do what he did. I always assumed that it meant his Hemalurgy enhanced his Allomancy. Did Marsh get a double power, or is the Feruchemy-Allomancy combo enough? ( a sidebar to this question is whether or not stacking abilities is possible through Hemalurgy).
2) Did Vin's mother actually have a spike, or was she so crazy that one wasn't necessary for Ruin to influence her?
3) When the Kandra get their spikes back, do they remember who they were, or have they been "rebooted"?
1) He used Hemalurgy to pull off his most dramatic effects. Marsh didn't need them, but it makes things much easier.
2) She was crazy enough on her own.
3) They remember, though some things are vague or foggy in their minds. Depends on the individual.
From this same thread. So I must have missed the part where Sazed implied it. You have the reference handy? I didn't think he could influence people unless they were spiked, and her mother wasn't.
Edit: OK found this: "people with unstable personalities were more susceptible to Ruin's influence, even if they didn't have a spike in them" pg 473 and "she was the only child Ruin could find who was in a position to gain the right Hemalurgic spike ... She had an insane mother, a sister who was a Seeker, and was--herself--Mistborn" (pg 499).
All of the info from this thread and the subtlties from the book, it's hard to keep everything straight.
