Author Topic: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory  (Read 5679 times)

jacobfake

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Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« on: August 12, 2011, 07:41:55 PM »
[Spoooilers? Idk what qualifies from preview chapters but if you haven't finished them stop here. Also, read them now because their amazing.]

I looked back a couple of pages and didn't see any topics specifically related to theories about the Vanishers so I was hoping to hear you guys' theories. Failing that, I'll start it off with mine and you can at least poke the holes in it.

The mysteries as I understand it are:

1. Who is the leader/ where did he come from/ who does he work for?
2. How do they steal the train cars?
3. What are they taking the hostages for/ why do they only want noble women?
4. Why do they want the money/ how does it figure into their endgame? (Wax notes them checking mouths etc. in chapter 5)
5. What is their endgame?

My hypothesis:

2. (This is the only real hypothesis): So basically aluminum mistings can't actually do anything, and bendalloy mistings can't produce large enough bubbles to steal entire train cars, but I'd say you use hemalurgy to stick aluminum-burning into a bendalloy misting and boom problem solved, except maybe you use a couple of them in conjunction.
    -Also, 1. hemalurgy would be more likely preserved in Koloss culture since it was much more out in the open, so the leader's Koloss blood could be connected to him knowing about it.
     -And, 3. aluminum gnats fit the bill because they would be born into noble families (due to the misting concentration) but at the same time not have any Allomantic powers to speak of (aluminum does nothing on it's own). Idk why the hostages are all women though.

douglas

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2011, 09:29:50 PM »
First, I think you mean duralumin rather than aluminum.  Aluminum has no positive effect beyond making it easier to avoid metal poisoning - it gets rid of your metals to no effect.  Duralumin is the one that gives a super-flare.

Second, your hypothesis has a major problem: Neither hemalurgy nor mistborn are required to achieve a bendalloy super-flare.  A nicrosil misting can give other people super-flares, so you'd just need a team of one bendalloy misting and one nicrosil misting.  Much easier than finding duralumin mistings (who probably never mention or use their useless ability) or using hemalurgy, and especially much easier than doing both.

CabbyHat

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2011, 10:21:29 PM »
I'm not sure about their strategy, but I remember that when I first read that they were kidnapping women with strong Allomantic bloodlines, my initial thought was that they were trying to use them to breed more Mistings. That's a bit of a gruesome thought, though, and I'm not sure if it's the kind of thing Brandon would want to use as a major plot point.
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ulysses sword

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2011, 12:37:06 AM »
I don't believe that Nicrosil is generally known yet, so Duralumin spikes could be the motivation.  I doubt it though, as  there is no way to detect a Duralumin Misting.

jacobfake

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2011, 02:10:30 AM »
oops Duralumin my bad haha. anyways...

Yeah I don't think Nicrosil is popularly known because Wax specifically describes the editorial reaction to the speed bubble theory as 'they could never make one big enough, too much manpower' etc., a point at which, if he knew about Nicrosil, it would be pretty hard to not even consider the metal. So if he doesn't know it's definitely up in the air whether the Vanishers know.
    --of course, duralumin is probably not widely known either, with the absence of mistborn, just more likely to be known because it would probably be at least somewhere in cultural memory/ legends etc.

As for finding the gnats they could just feed everybody large quantities of Duralumin, say hey 'burn it or you'll die (from metal poisoning)' and then see who's alive at the end. Of course that is getting a bit complicated/ far-fetched, but I am pretty sure it would work.

It could also be that they're not even looking for allomancers, but rather taking women because they make better hostages, and are planning some sort of large-scale coup/ assault on the nobles or some sort of allomancer power house (explaining the need for aluminum bullets), using the hostages to force as many as they can to stand down. That would be supported by the way the leader was spouting some pseudo-morality very anti-noble lines in the ch. 5 robbery. 

Anyways it just totally bugs me that the first thing stolen was a *secret* aluminum shipment. Like, they clearly were targeting that specific metal first, it feels like it must have at least somehow enabled them to steal the other stuff.

Ari54

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2011, 12:25:34 PM »
Well, they were wearing aluminium hats and had aluminium bullets, so...

Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2011, 04:44:01 PM »
Nicrosil/Duralumin still obeys conservation. It only burns up what you have inside; it doesn't increase what you have. I recommend doing the math.
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jacobfake

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2011, 09:50:30 PM »
Oh damn, the word of Peter.. What about the possibility of using them as leverage against the nobility?

Sir_Read-a-Lot

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2011, 10:47:33 PM »
What I find most interesting is the "Ghost Trains".

Chapter 3:
Quote
The robberies were all similar, save for the one at the playhouse. A train was stopped because of a distraction on the tracks—early on, a fallen tree. Later, a ghostly phantom railcar that appeared from the mists, traveling directly at the train. The engineers stopped in a panic, but the phantom ahead vanished.

I noted several things about this passage:
1. the first time, the Vanishers did not have phantom train technology.  They seem to have gained it sometime after the first robbery, or maybe because of the first robbery.
2. The train comes out of the mists.

Theories:  Phantom Trains are not, as far as we know, part of any magic system on this world.  I have come up with several theories on what could cause them, ranging from plausible to extremely implausible.
1. The engineers are working for the Vanishers, and lying about what they see. (Very plausible, although I don't think it's likely)
2. The train is shaped from mist. (Possible, but it would seem that that would require Sazed's intervention)
3. Bendalloy mistings create and take apart the phantom train. (already discussed)
4. The train is some sort of Atium shadow (very implausible, I have no idea how this would work)
5. A very large kandra is mimicking a train. (more of a joke than a theory)
“Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.”  - Alice in Wonderland

jcats

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2011, 06:53:23 PM »
since the First shipment stolen was a railcar of aluminum, what if  you make a Aluminum shell in the shape of a railcar, paint it, then use coinshots/lurchers to place it on the Tracks ahead of the care, then remove it when the train stops.   mix in some dryice, mist, what ever, :D

Sir_Read-a-Lot

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Re: Alloy of Law - Vanishers Theory
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2011, 04:07:13 AM »
since the First shipment stolen was a railcar of aluminum, what if  you make a Aluminum shell in the shape of a railcar, paint it, then use coinshots/lurchers to place it on the Tracks ahead of the care, then remove it when the train stops.   mix in some dryice, mist, what ever, :D
Seems just as likely as any of my theories.  :D
“Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.”  - Alice in Wonderland