Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Got another one. Why do Kandra need two spikes to have a blessing and to become sentient?

It is just the nature of how Hemalurgy works. More spikes are capable of changing form and body more, and I didn’t feel that one spike was viable for the alterations that are made to their nature.

Could you make a Kandra an Allomancer?

With the right sequence of sorts of things, you could impart those powers to them theoretically. It’s not likely to happen, but you could do it. You could build a spike that would let them Push or Pull. But you’d give the powers separately, probably.

These are things that I overheard.

Kelsier was not spiked.

Part of the Lord Ruler's motivation for setting up The Final Empire was revenge against the people he viewed as encroaching on his people's land. He was also obsessed with creating order, which Ruin later exploited.

The Ars Arcanum in the books were all written by one person.

The author of the Ars Arcanum is either Hoid or a member of the Seventeenth Shard. Brandon also pointed to an annotation on the map of Elendel that's relevant to this question.

There's just the one system in Warbreaker, and it's also a world with only one Shard on it.

How do Kandra decide gender? Is it just intellectual? Or are there subtle physical differences?

Kandra have a specific gender that is associated with scent- you can tell if a kandra is a boy or girl depending on how they smell. There is more to it than that. They also know who they are attracted to.

Why did Rashek create mistwraiths the way that he did?

He wasn't sure what you meant by this, but he was sure that the annotations would cover what you wanted to know.

'IronEyes' at the end of Alloy of Law is actually Marsh? It could be any kandra could it not?

It could be a kandra, but I will tell you specifically that this time it is not. It is him.

Is Officer Brettin Tensoon at the end of the book?

Yes. (He let on during the signing that TenSoon made an appearance, and my friend Joe guessed it was Brettin, and Brandon confirmed it then later to us)

Oh, and another little tidbit,

The person who gave Wax his earring was the kandra, MeLaan.

Also, that Kandra are working as "Sazed's Angels". And their role is primarily to go along fixing things by Sazed's Will. Brettin was killed towards the end of the book, but not in the storyline related plot. Sazed saw this, and told Tensoon to go get his bones, which is why he wasnt able to imitate him properly.

TenSoon wonders, and I wonder too- How can Kandra think and be sentient without Brains? Doesn't the body need a physical coordinator to relay between the Physical and Cognitive realm? Or do the spikes do a good enough job with that?

I imagine Kandra having a non-centralized nervous system, with brain power spread through their bodies. Well, non-centralized is probably the wrong way to say it. They have lobes of thought and memory attached to muscles here and there, and don't have a single 'brain.' They certainly have brain-like material, though.

Of course these are going to be spoiler-tastic.

How are there kandra and koloss? Kandra especially, since they did their "mass suicide" thing at the end of the original trilogy.

The nice thing about the kandra for me in the narrative was that, though removing their spikes turns them feral, you can always stick those spikes back in. TenSoon feared that this was the end of his people, and it could have been, if those spikes hadn't gone back in quickly. As it was, there were costs. Time spent without spikes causes a kandra's memories to deteriorate, and some that were left a relatively long time were essentially reborn as new people. But the race survived, even if it is unlikely that their numbers will be added to.

MIDWESTREDDITOR

Thank you very much for answering my questions!

If I may be allowed a follow-up question: Did TenSoon survive, then (as the TenSoon who experienced growth under Vin)?

(If it's not spoiler-tastic to the series, this is something I might share with my fiancee. TenSoon was one of her favorite characters. You, uh, kinda killed most of her favorites.)

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes, though he did lose some things.

I can guess two possible options for the Kandra.

1. God Sazed endowed the gift of presence on the now mistwraiths.

2. Some of the Kandra survived in the cave with the Terrisman and people of the city, along with the small mistwraiths, these are re-born with the spikes they pulled out during the resolution.

I can imagine too that some Kandra on assignment may have hidden in the shelters with the rest of humanity.

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.

KAIMIPONO

On a broader level, is hemalurgy officially dead, then? Or is it still extant in some Ruin-free (but still messy) form? (If it's gone, is there any imbalance since Preservation's magic power is kept and Ruin's isn't?)

BRANDON SANDERSON

Is Hemalurgy dead? No, not at all. It, like the other two powers, was not created by Ruin or Preservation, but by the natural state of the world and its interaction with the gods who created it. It still requires the same method of creation, but very few people are aware of how it works.

Koloss were bad tempered before Ruin's influence, though he certainly made them worse. They were designed by the Lord Ruler to be aggressive, so aggressive that they would destroy themselves if they got loose and away from him. (This was intentional. Note that he didn't give the spark of humanity in them enough credit, and they managed to overcome this and 'evolve' in a way to keep their species going, even after he died.)

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.

Kwaan went into hiding, and he was eventually discovered and executed by Rashek. He wasn't among the First Generation, though he would have been if he hadn't turned against Rashek. Rashek kept the plate, however, just as he kept Alendi's logbook. Partially because even then, Rashek was going a little mad, but partially because of the reminders about his old life they contained.

VEGASDEV (17 OCTOBER)

I'm assuming you meant Alendi hunted him down because he turned against Alendi. Or did Kwaan also turn against Rashek?

BRANDON SANDERSON

No, I meant that he turned against Rashek. Remember, the members of the First Generation were offered immortality in exchange for their Hemalurgy. They had to make this choice for all of the world's Feruchemists. Because his uncle had been the one who gave Rashek the chance to become the Lord Ruler in the first place, Rashek blessed him and included him in the decision. (Speaking directly into his mind along with the others during Rashek's moment of ascension.)

Kwaan was the only one who turned down this offer, calling it a betrayal of who they were as a people. Rashek could have just made him one anyway, but in a moment of anger, he tried to destroy Kwaan—which he couldn't do, not with Preservation's power. As the other Feruchemists changed, Kwaan remained the same. Rashek eventually hunted him down and killed him.

As I re-read this chapter, I'm realizing just how obvious I made it here that Renoux is a kind of Mistwraith. Maybe I overdid it a bit. One problem with this novel in alpha reads was that many of my readers had also read MISTBORN PRIME, and so they understood the nature of kandra, and immediately knew what Renoux really was. It's not an extremely important surprise, however, so it probably doesn't matter that people can figure it out.

[Brandon being cautious about wording] Certain things built into a world are not the same. Not used in the same way. Meaning the energy of Preservation and Ruin inside of something living and growing—yes that's "of" them, but that's not direct force that they're using at that time.

Adam

Would a good example of that be Allomancy versus the blessings the Kandra have?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah sure.

Okay, give me another one. We’re way over five now.

ZAS

True. (Although it’s not! Haha!) Why did OreSeur signup for Kelsier’s plan. Was he forced to because of his contract? Or did he actually want to do it?

All kandra want to be back in the Homeland. That said, OreSeur, he as a kandra, likes challenges, and was a real method kandra, a lot of them are, but he truly was. And you can see that in him. So for him, the contract and the role he plays.

ZAS

Are more important than what he actually wants.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah. Even though he had spent all this time doing this stuff. So he was part of it, but for him, his role was being this person. If I may.

ZAS

That’s interesting.

No, the bones are just there for the muscles to pull against.

Herowannabe

Okay, so they don’t need it for some Spiritual link through the bones to mimic someone?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Good question.

Herowannabe

Also, what would happen to a Kandra if you bisected it down the middle with half of its blessing ending up in either half?

Brandon Sanderson

That would be—like ripping off any other piece of it—that would be very disturbing for the Kandra. But they could reabsorb and come back together. They would not be able to function half and half, that would eventually kill them basically. They can’t like send pieces of themselves off and do things. They can be ripped apart and heal, but if you ripped them in half, that would be killing them.

If a Kandra eats a bead of Larasium, can he burn it? Alternatively can he gain allomancy via hemalurgy?

Yes on both counts.

[misunderstands question as a question about kandra/koloss/parshendi] Well, you see, the kandra and the koloss have a "hole" in them that allows Ruin to come in and take over. The Parshendi naturally are protected from this, but when they expose themselves to the storms, and the spren come in, many of these spren have that kind of "hole" in them, and that’s what allows Odium to take control of them.

Zas678

No, I'm talking about how Ruin was able to push people, place things in their minds, stuff like that. Can Odium do the same thing?

Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

Well, Odium wasn't around when those people were created [Here it sounded like the mankind that's on that planet, not the specific generation], so it's a little different for him than Ruin. So if he influences people in that way, it's through the Unmade.

"TenSoon is wily!"

There are also some drugs that affect kandra bodies.

Good question. *gives Newan a RAFO card* In upcoming Mistborn books, you are going to get to know a lot more of the kandra, so you will have a lot more options.

Newan

Ooh. When the kandra worldhopper is off-world, er off-Scadrial, does she take the form of a human female?

Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

Not all of the time.

Newan

Has she spoken a word of dialogue in a non-Mistborn book?

Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

I can't remember.

Kelsier gets to have some last words in this chapter. He earned them, I think. I'm sorry to keep the truth of kandra from you so long, as I've said before. However, I needed to leave the explanation off so that the reader could experience the revelation with Vin here. Even if you'd already figured out what Renoux was, then I think this scene is more powerful by having the revelations happen like they did.

Anyway, Kelsier is among my personal favorite characters, if only for his depth. He is a complicated, multi-faceted man who managed to scam not only the entire empire, but his own crew at the same time. I felt I had to give him some last words, if only through a letter, so that the reader could bid him a proper farewell. In addition, I wanted him to pass that flower on to Vin—symbolically charging her with Mare's dream, now that Kelsier himself is dead.

The Kandra were my favorite part of the Mistborn series. What was your inspiration for them? What was your inspiration for the style you used for their names?

Additionally, where do you look to for inspiration for character names?

I've answered above about character names, though there is a lot of variety to the ways I can answer that--since there's no one place I get name inspiration.

For the kandra, I started with the idea that a thieving crew would need a good "inside man" type, who could do costumes. None of the powers fit this, but I knew I also wanted to foreshadow Hemalurgy. From there, developing them was an organic process digging deeply into the history and worldbuilding I was doing.

The idea of the wolfhound kandra appealed to me a great deal before even starting the first book, and was where I targeted my plotting after it struck me.

First of all, I'd like to thank you for e-mailing me White Sand and Aether of Night last year, and for just being so awesome and giving to your fans.

Here are my questions:

1. Sel question: What are the names of the Aons for West, North, and South? I'm assuming that these are also the names of the other cities around Elantris besides Kae ("East"). Is that right?
2. Scadrial question: We've seen Kandra True Bodies made of crystal, stone, or wood. Can a kandra use a True Body made of metal? If so, what happens if each metal "bone" had a Hemalurgic charge, and each one is touching an appropriate bind point?
3. Roshar question: Looking up the meaning of "lucentia", I see that it's a Latin word related to light and visibility. Why isn't the Surge of Illumination connected to the Order of Edgedancers, which is the Order associated with Lucentia?
4. Nalthis question: This is a two-part question about Perfect Invocation. (A) When an old God King passes down his Breaths to his infant heir, does Perfect Invocation turn him (the old God King) into a white drab and does that grant him any cool powers? (B) Secondly, do God Kings create white Lifeless instead of grey ones and are these white Lifeless special in any significant way?

Those four questions will do for now. I hope you'll visit the Philippines one of these days. Anyway, I need to go back to sleep. Happy writing!

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Question

Can the kandra produce human children with consumed parts?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, I saw a big thread on Reddit about it and chose not to participate, despite being asked to.

Question

I thought she said that you did, so…

Brandon Sanderson

I gave vague and unuseful answers, and so I’m going to give the same to you. RAFO.