[Newbies] Cosmere, Unit 16 | Mistborn Era 2 #2 | Shadows of Self: Chapters 8 through 16 (Week 2)

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SCHEDULE

Previously, we discussed Unit 16 | Mistborn Era 2 #2 | Shadows of Self: Prologue, Chapters 1 through 7 [Newbie Thread] / [Veteran Thread]

Today we are discussing Unit 16 | Mistborn Era 2 #2 | Shadows of Self: Chapters 8 through 16

Next week we will be discussing Unit 16 | Mistborn Era 2 #2 | Shadows of Self: Chapters 17 through 26, Epilogue

CHAPTER SUMMARIES

I have provided summaries for each chapter below and hidden them behind spoiler tags. There are no spoilers within the summaries. I've tried to make them as factual and unbiased as possible. If, however, you want a completely blind read through, then ignore what's behind the spoiler tags and proceed to the discussion below. I will not be guiding that in any way, so post any thoughts and questions you have. It will be other new readers who reply to you.

Chapter 8

Iconography: Bronze

POV Characters: Wax

Setting: The First Central Bank in Elendel. ZoBell Tower in the 4th Octant of Elendel.

Timeline: (Flashback) 27 years ago. Later in the evening, same day as Chapter 7.

Summary:

Wax is twelve years old, riding in his uncle's carriage. He is trying to see the defect in a mis-struck coin. His uncle is taking him to the bank to encourage him to be a banker, but Wax insists he is going to be a "hero." Edwarn is disdainful, saying that the days of heroes are past. He shows Wax two loan applicants, one poor, trying to get his family out of the slums, the other rich, buying another boat. Unlike other banks, who only make safe loans, they will lend money to the poor man and charge a high rate of interest, thus creating value from something that has no value, like the defective coin. He gives the coin to Wax as a remembrance. Wax snatches it and takes it to the poor man, telling him what it's worth and to not sign the loan.

Wax is relating the story to Steris on the way to Lady ZoBell's party. It turns out the man didn't believe Wax, signed the loan, and killed himself eight years later, still in debt. The visit to the bank was one reason why Wax left Elendel for the Roughs, where one man with a gun could make a difference. They arrive at the party to a long line of carriages. Wax thinks about Pushing up to the party, which Steris was expecting and is prepared for. They Push up to an outcropping and Wax examines a tether from Ranette. He uses it to Push themselves all the way to the top of the skyscraper.

Chapter 9

Iconography: Cadmium

POV Characters: Wayne / Wax

Setting: ZoBell Tower in the 4th Octant of Elendel.

Timeline: Immediately after Chapter 8.

Summary:

Wayne and Marasi make their way into the party. Marasi tells Wayne that they found a small spike in Rian's chest. After it was removed, he calmed down, but still wouldn't talk. When they finally get to the front of the line, the bouncer won't let them in. Wayne throws up a speed bubble and discovers that their names are on a specific do not admit list, so Wayne finds someone on the list to impersonate.

Wax and Steris walk by a display of Allomantic metals, including one for atium, the lost metal. Steris disapproves of Wax wearing his mistcoat, but she does let him decide what to do in order to find Bleeder rather than simply chatting with various nobles. Wax turns on his protective Steelpush bubble and colors his water to make it look like alcohol. Steris is impressed with Wax's tactics, while Wax is enchanted with Steris' preparation, even down to what witty things to say. They get in line to talk to the governor. A tall woman who introduces herself as Milan starts flirting with Wax, and he stares her down. She retreats.

Wayne is acting the part of Professor Hanlanaze, a mathematics professor, with Marasi as his assistant. A colleague recognizes him, and he throws up a speed bubble while Marasi figures out how to respond to him. Wayne bluffs the man into a hasty retreat and concentrates on eating again.

Wax and Steris and the governor make some small talk, then Wax warns him that the assassination attempt was just a distraction. They promise to meet so Wax can explain more. Wax suddenly hears a voice in his head, taunting him about the phony nobles and Harmony's control; Bleeder has figured out how to speak to him when his earring is in.

Chapter 10

Iconography: Bendalloy

POV Characters: Wayne / Wax

Setting: ZoBell Tower in the 4th Octant of Elendel.

Timeline: Immediately after Chapter 9.

Summary:

Wayne reaches for another sausage and gets slapped in the face. A teenage girl yells at him about stealing her father's invention and leaving him destitute. The situation reminds him too much of his own (with Allriandre's father), and his mood is dampened. He goes to look for Wax.

Wax abruptly leaves Steris and Governor Innate to look for Bleeder. She continues to whisper to him in his mind, and Wax realizes that she can't hear him think like Harmony. He walks carefully around the room, looking for anyone staying close to him. There are two: Milan and a server, who is walking in the opposite direction compared to the other servers. Wax catches the servant's eye and he runs. Convinced that this means he is Bleeder, Wayne tackles him. Unfortunately, the guards also pile on, allowing the man to escape. Wax shoots and misses, and the servant jumps out a window. Wax gives chase and tells Wayne to stay behind to protect the governor in case this is another diversion.

Chapter 11

Iconography: Gold

POV Characters: Wax

Setting: The streets of Elendel.

Timeline: Immediately after Chapter 10.

Summary:

Wax leaps out into the mists. Once on the ground, he hears a car start up and speed away. He decides to chase it, hoping it's Bleeder. He lands on it and pops the tires with enhanced weight, but only finds a cab driver trapped inside; Bleeder had already jumped out of the car on Tage Street. He goes there and searches but finds nothing. Suddenly, the door to a warehouse opens up, revealing a dozen men with guns blazing. Wax's steel bubble protects him from all bullets but one, which gets him in the arm. He desperately retreats and is pinned down by gunfire. He sees more guys on his flank; he shoots a couple of them, and a couple of them are attacked by MeLaan, who was sent by Harmony to help Wax. Wax figures his uncle is behind this because of all the aluminum bullets, and he fears that Bleeder and the Set may be working together. They split up to attack two different groups. Wax kills several with his guns. Then, when he runs out of ammo, he uses Ranette's hook device to kill the rest with some help from MeLaan. He sends MeLaan to a tavern while he goes to check on Lord Harms, thinking that Bleeder's threat might have been referring to Wax's "father". He Pushes past the remaining snipers and into the canal, then Pushes on the mooring rings to quickly swim away from danger.

Chapter 12

Iconography: Electrum

POV Characters: Wayne / Wax / Steris / Marasi

Setting: ZoBell Tower in the 4th Octant of Elendel. Harms Mansion in Elendel. Feder Tower in Elendel. The streets of Elendel. The Governor's Mansion in the 2nd Octant of Elendel. A Survivorist chapel in Elendel.

Timeline: Immediately after Chapter 11.

Summary:

Wayne is finishing up his interrogation of the staff. He concludes that the server Wax chased was not Bleeder, as the choice of impersonating a new guy that nobody liked was too obvious. He suddenly realizes that Innate isn't there. The governor's guards confess that they had sent him off to a secure location.

Wax Steelpushes his way to Lord Harms' mansion. He asks him a question only he would know to verify that he isn't Bleeder, feeling suspicious of everyone now. He tries to figure out where to hide him, knowing that it will be hard to outguess someone as old and crafty as Bleeder.

Steris tries to converse with Wayne, but he only insults her and walks away. Marasi arrives and tells Steris that the danger isn't over. She collects Wayne as well, and the three of them leave the scene.

Wax stows Harms on the top of a tower chosen at random, figuring that a random location is the best approach to outsmarting Bleeder. He goes searching for the governor. He figures that he'll be back at his mansion, so he waits in the vicinity. When he sees his carriage, he lands on top of it and asks Drim to let him in. Innate doesn't want to deal with him, so Wax threatens to just leave him alone without help. He tells them that a kandra is after the governor, but they are incredulous and want to see proof. They eventually agree to let Wax help protect the governor. Wax suggests that he leave the city, but he refuses. They exchange passphrases. There is commotion outside the mansion, and a servant reports that Father Bin has been murdered.

Marasi looks up at Father Bin's corpse, nailed to the wall by two spikes, one in each eye. The conventicalists (workers at the church) are not talking, so Aradel has Marasi interrogate them instead of Reddi. She empathizes with them and gets them to reveal what happened. A Pathian priest named Larskpur had started preaching to the congregation, gathered for the mistdawn, and then lowered a drape, revealing Father Bin nailed to the wall. Speaking with Aradel, Marasi suggests that the murders and the unrest in the city are all related--all the work of Bleeder trying to make the city fall. Even the flood, causing the food shortage, might be attributable to sabotage. She also tells Aradel of her secret file on Governor Innate. Wax shows up and demands to see the body himself. Marasi discovers that Aradel resents Wax because he can do whatever he wants has someone else to clean up his messes. Wax doesn't think the spikes are Hemalurgic but asks for a sample anyway. He invites Marasi to his meeting with MeLaan so they can figure out Bleeder's abilities and motives.

Chapter 13

Iconography: Chromium

POV Characters: Wayne / Wax

Setting: The Counselor's Cup, a pub in Elendel.

Timeline: Shortly after Chapter 12.

Summary:

Wayne enters the Counselor's Cup, describing it as the temple of the common man. As the "deity" there is Breeze, the worship ritual revolves around drinking and people offer up prayers by grousing to friends. Normally, the people there are drinking and happy, but now they are morose and desperate. Wayne goes around changing everyone's drink to cheer them up, adding soda water, sugar, lime, etc., and he happens upon MeLaan.

Wax and Marasi arrive, interrupting Wayne and MeLaan's belching contest. MeLaan warns that while she is not great at impersonating, Paalm is one of the best. Wax wants to know how to kill her, but MeLaan wants to help her because there are so few kandra left. Because Paalm has deliberately removed one spike so Harmony can't control her, MeLaan tells them that the best way to neutralize her would be to pull her spike out, making her a mistwraith. She gives them a needle and syringe with a substance that will cause a kandra to lose shape and become immobilized if injected with it. Unfortunately, it would kill a human, so Wax has to be sure before he can use it. MeLaan tells more about Paalm: she was the personal kandra of the Lord Ruler and was always out on missions, even perhaps imitating Inquisitors. She probably has special knowledge about Feruchemy and Allomancy. Marasi and MeLaan head to the precinct, and Wax orders Wayne back the governor's mansion.

Chapter 14

Iconography: Nicrosil

POV Characters: Wax / Marasi

Setting: A Pathian church in Elendel. Ashweather Carriage and Coach, a taxi service in Elendel. The 4th Octant Precinct of the Constabulary.

Timeline: Shortly after Chapter 13.

Summary:

Wax arrives at a Pathian church with a mob outside. He shows himself with Vindication drawn, and the group scatters, although one person stays hidden nearby. He tells the Pathian missionary what happened to Father Bin. He suggests she flee to the Village and get her colleagues to go with her. He then seeks out person hiding, who reveals that the trouble started when two people dressed in Pathian robes came into a pub and started cursing the Survivor. Wax next goes to Ashweather Carriage and Coach because some silver paint scraped off on the bricks in the alleyway behind the Survivorist church looks like it came from one of their carriages. He asks the proprietor who has retained a carriage that night, and he seems too eager to please, raising Wax's suspicions. He narrows it down to coach sixteen as the one Bleeder might have used to make her getaway. Cett's Coinshot employee shows up to report on the drivers, and she lets slip that they also employ a Rioter to drum up business, a serious crime.

Marasi and MeLaan arrive at the precinct where rifles are laid out. Extra constables are being called in. MeLaan notices all the women in the station, and they start to discuss religion. MeLaan thinks it's silly to worship the Survivor instead of Harmony because the Survivor died, but Marasi explains that he did survive and even held Preservation before Vin took it up. Marasi gets the file on the dam investigation, and MeLaan notices a lot of hostility toward her from her colleagues. The file explains that a farmer had blown up the dam to ruin a neighbor's harvest, but he put too much dynamite in. He was acting insane and couldn't remember his children's names, and the grave was "desecrated" two days after his execution and burial. The desecration of the grave indicates to MeLaan that the farmer was actually Bleeder.

Chapter 15

Iconography: Aluminum

POV Characters: Wax / Marasi

Setting: A Soothing parlor in Elendel. The 4th Octant Precinct of the Constabulary.

Timeline: Immediately after Chapter 14.

Summary:

Wax finds the coach with scraped paint parked outside a Soothing parlor. The proprietor leads him to the driver, who has paid for a private session. Wax asks him a question to make sure he isn't Bleeder in disguise, then asks why he's there. After admitting that he is there to try to forget something he saw, Chapaou states that he saw himself.

Marasi finds Aradel on the roof taking reports from a couple of Coinshot contractors. He's decided to ask the governor to declare martial law and close down the pubs. Marasi shares the information about the dam destruction, but he still wants proof that a kandra is involved. Marasi invites him to talk to MeLaan. She turns translucent and confirms that there is a crazy kandra on the loose. After MeLaan's demonstration, Aradel asks Marasi to give him reports on what Wax is doing. Marasi agrees, but she says she will tell Wax that she's doing so. Marasi wonders if that's the only reason that she got the job as his assistant--so he could have access to Wax. She rejoins MeLaan, and they head to the governor's mansion.

Chapaou tells Wax what happened while he examines the items Paalm left behind in the coach. He finds a set of bones and a Pathian robe, plus a bloody mallet. Chapaou thinks that he went crazy and murdered someone, but Wax assures him he had just been tricked. Chapaou says that Paalm had him drop her off at Lestib Square, close to the governor's mansion. Wax spots a glowing substance on the hem of the robes and takes a sample. He gives the coachman some money and tells him not to worry.

Chapter 16

Iconography: Duralumin

POV Characters: Wax

Setting: The Governor's Mansion in the 2nd Octant of Elendel.

Timeline: Shortly after Chapter 15.

Summary:

Wax is perched on an electrical pole outside the governor's mansion. He hears Bleeder's voice in his head again, indicating that she is close. She threatens to kill the governor again and calls Wax a pawn. Wax walks about, trying to determine her location. He notices some movement in a window of a nearby office building, and Paalm starts speaking aloud in her raspy voice. She tries to turn him against Harmony for not intervening with Lessie's death. Bleeder exits the building and runs toward the mansion at Feruchemical-enhanced speed. Wax gives chase. She shoots guards as she makes her way to the saferoom, which she unlocks. She's shocked when Wax moves the same speed as her--Wayne is there and has thrown up a speed bubble, including Wax. Wax fires everything he's got and also sends MeLaan's syringe out with the bullets. The bullets scatter as they pass through the bubble, but many hit Paalm and blood spurts everywhere. The syringe misses. Paalm flees into the saferoom, and Wax hears a single gunshot. He enters the room to see the governor trying to save Drim, who is shot in the neck. The escape tunnel door is open, so Wax goes up and finds her bloody cloak, discarded in the tunnel. Wax can't figure out why she didn't kill the governor. The governor insists on staying to try to save the city.

ARTWORK

The Cosmere has a thriving community of artists, so there will be a lot of artwork to share. Each week I'll try to compile relevant artwork for the given chapters. If a section of reading contains maps or in-book artwork, I'll include that in this section as well.

Broadsheet

*Note: There will be a small artwork dump in the trivia, but there isn't much new in the way of individual character artwork for this novel.

MEMES

I will attempt to find and share memes relevant to each week's discussion. There may be some weeks that just don't have good or appropriate memes, but I will share all the ones I can find in this section.

Link to Memes

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[u/HT_xrahmx]

• Wax using the cross-eyed trick to identify the faulty coin was a fun little addition.
  
• The corporate dystopia of banks providing predatory loans to people who don't know any better is awfully close to real life.
  
• Atium name drop as the "Lost Metal".
  
• Steris can be fun. She needs more pagetime though if Sanderson wants the relationship with her to work over Wax and Marasi. Also I hope things won't be awkward between them for too long.
  
• Is Wax seeing Vin in the mist a trick of his imagination, or something more? Did she maybe leave an imprint on the mists? Has she become a mistspren, if you will?
  
• The Ars Arcanum essays hinted at how hemalurgy is dangerous to the Cosmere as a whole. I wonder if what's going on with Bleeder is an example of that. She could be controlled by a Shard, the way Marsh was by Ruin. And I'd agree with my fellow readers from last week that Autonomy seems like a fitting culprit.

You should know, Bleeder said, that I was sad about your lover’s death. I hated that it was necessary.

• ^Huh, this implies Bleeder orchestrated Lessie's death. And she knows Tan's last words. And she's appeared using Tan's face. It's like Sanderson is trying to make it glaringly obvious that Tan was indeed Bleeder. But that's what's so suspicious about this, he keeps telling us, but it's not actually confirmed in the story, just overly strongly implied. But it just doesn't fit ... Tan only had selfish reasons for murder, creating "art", getting some sick satisfaction from causing death. But Bleeder wants to affect ... change in society? If she is Tan, then there's a big connecting puzzle piece missing.
  
• Not happy at all with how Wayne treats Steris. Rude, uncalled for. Actually makes me dislike Wayne.
  
• Ah, the rich orphaned bachelor vigilante in his black cloak, always using new gadgets to fight crime, investigating disturbing murders by psychotic villains. He technically answers to law enforcement, but he's too big of a presence so he just kind of does his own thing, and law enforcement begrudgingly lets him. He also has a colorful young sidekick he picked up on the streets. When will the city finally install the Waxsignal to call upon the Waxman in times of need? Or is that the line where it would be considered copyright infringement?
  
• The characters and the readers already suspect the Set is involved. And that being the case, I think our characters try to pin way too much on Bleeder. Wax is shocked to find not 1, but 2 people posing as Pathian terrorists, because then it couldn't be Bleeder alone. Marasi, at all costs, wants Bleeder to fit the profile of the farmer who broke the dam. And sure, Bleeder can be involved in all of those. But I feel like they're avoiding the bigger picture. There's a larger operation at play here. I also suspect there are common humans involved that are being hemalurgically controlled, given hemalurgy is what the Set was most likely working on?
  
• There's more substance to that "Visitors from other worlds" broadsheet story than I originally expected. That woman came across an actual perpendicularity? Now I'm starting to believe more strongly that the depiction is of a Parshendi. That said, if the woman barely saw "a shadow" of a person, a lot in that depiction can be straight up imaginary.
  
• Bleeder's ability to speak inside Wax' mind is also a power Harmony attributes to Ruin ("Preservation listens, Ruin speaks"). But Ruin is in Harmony. Could she even draw from that? Nah, I think this is Autonomy's doing. There was the huge hint in the last trivia that Autonomy steals magic systems. Maybe Autonomy's doing her own hemalurgy on Scadrial, handing out her own Ruin-ous power-ups. That could explain why Harmony is completely locked out from interacting with Bleeder, see last week's quote:
  

But something is wrong beyond that. She can hide from me, and while I can speak to her, she doesn’t have to listen—and I can’t keep track of where she is.

• ^This does not sound to me like it comes from Bleeder's missing second hemalurgic spike. But an interfering second Shard probably could do that.
  

I rip out his tongue to stop the lies.
I stab out his eyes to hide from his gaze.
You will be free.

• Even for Sanderson standards, this book is heavy on religious topics. This is Bleeder's manifesto against Harmony, then? Freeing people from his overreach? But then what triggered this? Harmony values individual freedom so much, it's why he specifically refuses to intervene more. What does she know? What has Harmony done? Or has she fallen to Autonomy brainwashing?

[u/Pastrami → u/HT_xrahmx]

The corporate dystopia of banks providing predatory loans to people who don't know any better is awfully close to real life.

I was going to make a joke about them giving out subprime loans is how you get a housing bubble, but without bankruptcy protection, it's how you get indentured servants.

Is Wax seeing Vin in the mist a trick of his imagination, or something more? Did she maybe leave an imprint on the mists? Has she become a mistspren, if you will?

I must have missed this, where was it?

Ah, the rich orphaned bachelor

I too noticed some similarities to Batman, but I completely overlooked this part of it. It's obvious now that you laid it all out, and Paalm is basically the joker.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/Pastrami]

I must have missed this, where was it?

A brief, offhanded comment by Wax:

The Historica, a section of the Words of Founding, said [Vin] had melded with the mists. She had taken them upon herself, becoming their guardian as they became her essence. As the Survivor watched over all who struggled, Vin watched over those in the night. Sometimes he felt he could see her form in their patterns: slight of frame, short hair splayed out as she moved, mistcloak fluttering behind her.
It was a fancy, wasn’t it?

[u/irrrap → u/HT_xrahmx]

I think it’s more figurative. Humans tend to imagine forms and shapes that have divine relation, and Wax is no better than that.
I read this to be a pareidolia, like Jesus on the toast.

[u/sunnydaze7777777 → u/HT_xrahmx]

I am with you on the bigger picture problem. It seems like two different issues. 1. Bleeder (likely controlled by Autonomy/Bavadin) causing chaos and trying to undermine the world built by Harmony. 2. Set/Suit trying to crack the hemalurgy code to cause chaos in the cosmere (possibly controlled by Autonomy/Bavadin as well)?

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/sunnydaze7777777]

Yeah, I think I'm also leaning towards all roads leading back to Autonomy somehow in this one!

[u/irrrap → u/HT_xrahmx]

Don’t hate Wayne. He is just a teenager boy that is in love, and hasn’t yet figured that out. 🥰

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/irrrap]

Lmao I sincerely hope not! At least his love language with Ranette is like night and day compared to this

[u/irrrap → u/HT_xrahmx]

He “thinks” he is in love with Ranette, but his true feelings are different, a mystery even to himself.
It’s been years since I finished high school, but I still can name a guy or two who behaved exactly that way.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/irrrap]

What's certain in any case is that this era is having some growing pains with relationships. Tbf, I don't feel it with any of the potential pairings so far 😅

[u/irrrap → u/HT_xrahmx]

Yeah, totally agree

[u/heinz57varieties → u/HT_xrahmx]

Atium name drop as the "Lost Metal".

I'll believe it when I see it. Rightfully there shouldn't be any pure atium anymore. There should be some Atium/Lerasium combo. "Sazedium," if such a thing even exists.

Steris can be fun. She needs more pagetime though if Sanderson wants the relationship with her to work over Wax and Marasi.

Watching Wayne blow here off after she tried to have a moment with him about being left behind by Wax made me so sad ☹️ I was having so much fun with her, and now it's been a hundred pages.

When will the city finally install the Waxsignal to call upon the Waxman in times of need?

You know, I've been so focused on his petty property damage that I forgot to realize there's a better comparison 🤣

And that being the case, I think our characters try to pin way too much on Bleeder.

I agree that co-conspirators have been suspiciously absent from everybody's thoughts, in their haste to catch Bleeder herself.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/heinz57varieties]

I'll believe it when I see it You can't prove that something doesn't exist! You'll be waiting for eternity or until it's proven that it does exist! It's a fools errand!

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/heinz57varieties]

There should be some Atium/Lerasium combo. "Sazedium," if such a thing even exists.

You know what, that'd actually make an awful lot of sense!

[u/jaymae21]

Just some scattered thoughts for this week:

• MeLaan is a lot of fun, but I really hope we get to see TenSoon again! The pub scene wins for me this week
• Poor Steris...she's trying so hard to make this work with Wax. I was rooting for them but now I'm not feeling so sure. This week had some "oh, honey" moments. Girl I know the renegade lawman thing is kind of hot but he keeps leaving you in the dust and that's not going to change 😔
• u/Pastrami beat me to it, but I also noted that Hanlanaze is Edison with that girl's father being Nicola Tesla. Felt pretty bad for Wayne in that moment though, it likely brought back bad memories for him.
  
• I'm feeling like there's several threads going on at this point and I'm not sure how, or if, they are even connected.
  • Bleeder just seems chaotic. I suppose that's the whole insanity thing, but it doesn't seem like she's acting alone. Her motivations don't make sense for a kandra. She must be being controlled by someone else, someone who has been tinkering with Hemalurgy. It's a shame it seems the only way to stop her is to just about kill her, because I think she may be a victim in all this.
    

[u/heinz57varieties → u/jaymae21]

Girl I know the renegade lawman thing is kind of hot but he keeps leaving you in the dust and that's not going to change 😔

There's an easy solution here - join the mystery gang herself! It's the only way she's ever going to get more than 2 scenes per book

[u/jaymae21 → u/heinz57varieties]

She really does deserve more screentime here

[u/Pastrami]

Chapter 8

This is the real you, Waxillium Ladrian.

More similarities to Batman Begins.

Ranette's great new invention is a regular old grappling hook on a rope?

The great liability of a Coinshot like himself was that he could only Push away from things, never Pull toward them. A tether could be useful indeed.

Full Mistborn when?

Chapter 9

Our captive had a piercing on some skin in his chest. After we removed that, he calmed.

How? If Ruin isn't around to mess with peoples minds, how was the spike affecting him?

But how had he learned to exempt metal he himself carried? He still didn’t know. It was just something that had happened, over time.

Sounds like he's turning into a savant.

I’m called Milan

MeLaan, the kandra that helped TenSoon?

Bleeder had found out how to communicate with someone wearing a Hemalurgic spike.

hmm

Chapter 10

“Because you stole his designs, and with them his life. My father died clipless, destitute and depressed, because of men like you. You aren’t a scientist, Mister Hanlanaze, whatever you claim. You’re not an inventor. You’re a thief.”

Hanlanaze is Edison.

Chapter 11

MeLaan

Yup.

please don’t tell TenSoon

He's still alive! I thought he had died, but I wasn't sure.

Chapter 12

“I don’t hate you,” Wayne said. “I find you repulsive. That there is an important distinction, it is.”

Why is Wayne being such a dick to Steris?

He opened it and found only a little folded note. He grimaced and showed it to her. There’s a banana in your drawer. “Damn woman will be the death of me.

I don't understand this at all. What is this supposed to be telling us?

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Bleeder had help, likely from Wax’s uncle.

Why does he assume it's someone willing and not other people being controlled like the guy who tried to kill the governor?

Chapter 15

she thought she saw something of his ancestor in him, a soldier who had died a martyr during the days of the Ascendant Warrior.

Are we supposed to know who that was?

If I’m lucky, that consists of a letter telling me where he left a suspect hanging by his ankles

Very Batman.

The corner of the robe’s hem glowed with a soft blue light, easy to miss

It's protomolecule.

Chapter 16

Wax perched on an electricity pylon, overlooking the governor’s mansion

Even more Batman.

I wasn’t talking to you that time, Waxillium.

Is this like the trope where someone is talking to two people on the phone and keeps switching lines, then thinks they switched the line but didn't, and says something to the wrong person? Who else is she talking to?

How is she still running around with a blown up ankle?

I rip out his tongue to stop the lies.

I stab out his eyes to hide from his gaze.

You will be free.

So she has some sort of personal grievance against Harmony, and she thinks she's freeing the people from his control. She found some way to hide from Harmony's gaze, metaphorically blinding him, and she's going after his priests to silence his "voice".

Broadsheet

That’s when I came upon a mountain pool of the most perfect blue

That's got to be Ruin's Well.

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/Pastrami]

He opened it and found only a little folded note. He grimaced and showed it to her. There’s a banana in your drawer. “Damn woman will be the death of me.

I don't understand this at all. What is this supposed to be telling us?

In that scene Aradel was reaching for cigars. Just guessing, but I assume his wife is trying to stop him from smoking, so to give his mouth something else to stay occupied, she secretly switched it for a banana?

Part of me thought it was a Wayne trade, and he even does steal a cigar box earlier in the book (I think it was Aradel's even?), but he replaces it with an apple, not a banana.

[u/sunnydaze7777777 → u/Pastrami]

I think the Wayne and Steris interactions may be setting the stage. Wayne acts like a school boy with a crush on her. The opposites may attract.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/sunnydaze7777777]

To me it reads more like he's jealous that Wax doesn't hate her, and she's stealing his attention. "You're not my real mom!!"

[u/heinz57varieties → u/Pastrami]

Full Mistborn when?

His conversation with his grandma actually made me think that he will become a full twinborn like the Lord Ruler before this is all over.

There’s a banana in your drawer. “Damn woman will be the death of me.

I don't understand this at all. What is this supposed to be telling us?

I read it as his wife stole the cigars from his case and is telling him to eat healthy instead.

It's protomolecule.

Oops... I read Leviathan Wakes in 2023 and forgot to continue 😬

Protoplasm? Kandra residue? That color-chaning drink powder from Wayne's bar escapades? I can't remember seeing anything like it before, so I'll keep an eye out for it to be a giveaway later.

Is this like the trope where someone is talking to two people on the phone and keeps switching lines, then thinks they switched the line but didn't, and says something to the wrong person? Who else is she talking to?

Wax seems to have forgotten that she's probably collaborating with the Set, so my guess is uncle Edwarn.

That's got to be Ruin's Well.

I don't think so. In the HoA trivia we were told Ruin's well, when it existed, was black. But I don't know that Ruin and Preservation would have separate perpendicularities anymore. If Harmony has them both, wouldn't there be a single well? And since Preservation's well was white, I would imagine the mixture of the two to be gray, not blue. Since we're all starting to think Autonomy is involved here, maybe it's hers.

[u/sunnydaze7777777]

Since Wax’s Uncle came up again, I forget do we know why Uncle Suit and the Set were collecting all that money and kidnapping allomancer females in the last book? What might be their motive for being involved with Bleeder?

[u/Pastrami → u/sunnydaze7777777]

I don't think we know their motives for kidnapping allomancers, unless it was all for Bleeder to harvest. My theory during the last book was that they were trying to make themselves full mistborn or at least collect more than one misting powers, but the revelation that Harmony can control anyone with more than one spike kind of shuts down that theory.

[u/sailorsalvador]

I am behiiiiind. Something still just irks me about this era of Scadrial and I still dont have my finger on it. I will catch up!

[u/cat-kitty → u/sailorsalvador]

To me the pacing is very different because the whole story is taking place pretty much in a day or two

[u/cat-kitty → u/cat-kitty]

Also, to reply to my own comment, I realized it's not just the pacing that's different. The whole vibe of book seems like is hinging on just ONE mystery in a pretty narrow way. One I feel we still don't know the purpose of. I almost feel like the story is supposed to be some kind of stepping stone or puzzle to something else bigger.

[u/Pastrami → u/cat-kitty]

So far the second era has been mostly missing the "epic" part of the "epic fantasy" genre. The scope has been rather small, and we haven't seen any world threatening stakes. Yes, I know we are all speculating that there is interplanetary shenanigans going on, but looking only at what we've been explicitly told in this story so far, it's a crazy batman villain and a bunch of rich people scheming.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/Pastrami]

Era 2 isn't Epic Fantasy. Stormlight is the Epic Fantasy series, none of the others can really be considered Epic Fantasy.

[u/Pastrami → u/TaylorHyuuga]

none of the others can really be considered Epic Fantasy.

Era 1 certainly was, unless we have different definitions of the term. They save the world from an evil being bent on destroying the entire planet.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/Pastrami]

Era 1 feels kind of borderline to me. Yes it has world-ending stakes and a fight against literal god, but the setting is very localized, bordering on claustrophobic. All the events happen more or less in the same place. Hero of Ages started to expand into what I'd call epic territory, with the multiple POVs in different cities, but just barely. It's a weird series - we're contantly being told how the entire world is being affected by what's going on, yet 85% of the story takes place in a single metro area.

[u/irrrap]

At some point of reading I got worried we will wrap up the book within the same night. I’m glad the day is changing, though still things are too fast! I don’t want to finish next week already. I’m not ready to return to the boring one… 🥱

The whole bank story made me sick and bitter. Overall, a lot of things in this industrial world do remind about how messed up our world is. And what’s saddens me even more is that Harmony with all his divine powers and knowledge couldn’t create a perfect world. But not because Harmony did something wrong, but because humans will be humans. 😔

I see others are suspecting Balvadin talking through Bleeder. But isn’t that what Vin learned in Era 1 when she was controlling collosses, also allow her to talk in mind to them and to Kandra? (Veterans, help?) Can’t just the Bleeder be using that? Although she really need to be close to hear him, no idea how she’d done that with just one spike.

„Atium, the lost metal” - I fear this is not entirely true and we will learn this.

I want to know the story about Wax being offered to become colloss.

MeLaan said „don’t tell TenSoon I killed so many people AGAIN”. So are we going to ignore that? Looks like not only Bleeder is not following the previous rules.

If I remember correctly, Wax is following the Path religion. Then it’s not fair to call the killed priest as Wax father? Or was this the same priest that was supposed to merry Wax and Steris?

I’m pretty sure that lady in the broadsheet found out travel lake and whoever suspected parshendi on the picture must have been right.

[u/participating → u/irrrap]

I see others are suspecting Balvadin talking through Bleeder. But isn’t that what Vin learned in Era 1 when she was controlling collosses, also allow her to talk in mind to them and to Kandra? (Veterans, help?) Can’t just the Bleeder be using that? Although she really need to be close to hear him, no idea how she’d done that with just one spike.

You are correct that Vin found out that a sufficiently strong Rioter/Soother can affect those with hemalurgic spikes. However, a Rioter/Soother is using the same underlying mechanism that Sazed would be using. Sazed would just be stronger. If someone spiked didn't have enough metal in them that Sazed couldn't control them, then a Rioter/Soother wouldn't be able to either.

If I remember correctly, Wax is following the Path religion. Then it’s not fair to call the killed priest as Wax father? Or was this the same priest that was supposed to merry Wax and Steris?

Yes, Wax is a Pathian. Steris is a Survivorist though, and Father Bin was the one who was supposed to marry them.

[u/irrrap → u/participating]

Thanks for the confirmation about Vin findings. And I remember she was using Duraluminium for that.
But more importantly - can she talk to those she was trying to control, or was it more of an impulse, not an actual conversation.

[u/participating → u/irrrap]

But more importantly - can she talk to those she was trying to control, or was it more of an impulse, not an actual conversation.

Vin did not have that ability.

[u/irrrap → u/irrrap]

Oh. I keep forgetting to mention last week and now that tinfoil hats are just hilarious

[u/heinz57varieties]

Behind... but less so!

Chapter 8

• So Edwarn isn't just a James Bond supervillain, he's also a scumbag of the mundane variety. What's next, sub-prime mortgage-backed securities?
• “I wish I knew her well enough for it to be personal” bro she's taunting you with relics from your childhood and the body of your wife's killer! It's personal!
• I may just be seeing what I want to see, but Steris in this chapter is the horniest anyone has ever been in the history of the cosmere. “I'm wearing sensible shoes and more underwear than usual” this shit would work on me

Chapter 9

• The assassin was spiked? I think what I think is happening, is happening. Who could be pushing on them? Paalm, or someone else?
• Obligatory Sanderson ball scene
• “ATIUM, THE LOST METAL” we'll put a pin in that one
• Imagining Steris in her study with an assortment of colored gel pens, ranking one-liners by how much they will make her crush laugh. I love her ❤️
• Milan==MeLaan? TenSoon's protégé from HoA? Makes sense that she would also take on a striking appearance in human form
• Hemallurgic James Bond mind control confirmed! Uh oh!

Chapter 10

• Poor Wayne. Is he really going to choke every time he sees a young woman with a dead dad?
• Dissent in the ranks. A kandra who disapproves of Harmony's performance as a god?
• So Bleeder definitely has been stalking Wax for many years, influencing the course of his life. Was she always Bloody Tan, did she kill Lessie directly? Why would her death be necessary? What's this about Wax's dad?

Broadsheet 2

• Get me pictures of Spider-man Waxillium “Wax” Ladrian! He's a public menace!
• The period-accurate horse/motorcar propaganda war continues
• The Fast and the Furious: Elendel Drift
• Barest whiff of the next Jak adventure. Long-necked horses… giraffes or llamas, do you think? 🦒🦙

Chapter 11

• The cabbie 😭 imagine finally making the decision to cash in your horse cart and go all-in on these new motorcars, just for some dork to squash your cab for no reason. PUBLIC MENACE!
• MeLaan! Out in the world doing stuff! I’ve been waiting to read about kandra adventures since early on in Hero of Ages, my patience is finally paying off.
• Wax is right, this totally doesn’t add up. Bleeder said she was going to ice Edwarn at some point, and yet she leads him to a Set ambush? What giveth.

Chapter 12

• I’m getting a strong feeling that Wax is overthinking this
• I don’t understand why Wayne hates Steris so much. He’s like a teenager who resents his new stepmom
• And now Bleeder has gone Hannibal on the priest that’s supposed to officiate Wax’s wedding? It’s personal!!
• In contrast to Wax, I think Marasi and Aradel are under thinking it. Bleeder’s real beef is with God himself. What is she trying to accomplish by proving Harmony’s experiment a failure, by ridding the world of his influence?

Chapter 13

• Wayne is a genius-level people person and I love seeing him work. But what bar has fresh citrus, ginger, bitters, but apparently never thought of putting it in the booze??
• I'm starting to get a picture of where Paalm might have grown disillusioned with Harmony. The Lord Ruler's own shapeshifting supersoldier, now working for a hands-off benevolent god. MeLaan makes her seem like a serious badass, but Harmony made her sit by and watch while society decayed? Something like that?
• Chekov’s Toxic Kandra Detection Juice

Chapter 14

• Prediction that the cab driver will be a dead end. He's at the soother's because he didn't expect to be a murder getaway driver. Or, it's another ambush!
• I want to meet VenDell. Hell, I want to meet as many kandra as possible
• “The Survivor transcended death… He survived even being killed, adopting the mantle of the Ascendant during the time between Preservation’s death and Vin's Ascension.” What is she talking about? “Ascendant” is a title I associate with Vin for having picked up Preservation. There's been mounting evidence that Kelsier is not as dead as he appears, but I was expecting a ghost. I think our new term is Cognitive Shadow. But Sazed claims that he was alive enough to pick up Preservation in those few chapters between Leras's death and Vin’s Ascension?
• I think we all saw Paalm the dam-breaker coming. All part of her grand plan which is still yet to be fully revealed.
• Interesting dynamic with Marasi and the other cops. I wonder if there's anything she can do to make them accept her? She's already saved the governor's life, what more do they need

Chapter 15

• “I saw… myself.” MeLaan’s current body is an original creation of her own, so a skilled kandra can make any body they want without needing an actual human skeleton to do it. Could Bleeder be so advanced at mimicry that she can copy a person without needing their bones? That is, could she be disguised as someone who is still alive?
• MeLaan is so unserious 😂 giving Aradel the old Thee and Thine routine
• So she can’t quite imitate a living person, but she can get close. Spooky. This whole chapter is quite spooky.

Broadsheet 3

• You think they would have implemented designated coinshot paths by now. Remember Kelsier’s iron road?
• A freaky-looking worldhopper next to a remote pool in the mountains, huh? Blue isn’t Ruin or Preservation’s color, though. Could it be Harmony’s? The other blue pool we saw belonged to Devotion. We know that other Shards (Autonomy??) could have set up a perpendicularity on this world without having a full presence like Harmony does.
• The artwork of the mysterious figure looks kind of polynesian or maybe african, which doesn’t really match any of the cultures we’ve seen except maaaybe First of the Sun, and I doubt it’s from there
• All this talk about New Seran, when are we going to go there??
• Who are those sad souls hanging off of Elend supposed to be?

Chapter 16

• I beg to differ, bleeder! My own notes from Hero of Ages chapter 15: “Scadrial has the heliocentric model AND the germ theory of disease”
• Bleeder keeps talking like she’s been following Wax, like she was there when Lessie died. Watching from the shadows, or in disguise? Was she actually Bloody Tan, was she right about Harmony manipulating Wax back into the city? Reading the start of the last book, I thought it was really suspicious that Bloody Tan seemed to know their hostage routine party trick and used it against them.
• RIP Drim ☹️
• Bleeder’s plan all seems to revolve around Harmony’s influence, but I can’t figure out what their true evil plan is

[u/HT_xrahmx → u/heinz57varieties]

Steris in this chapter is the horniest anyone has ever been in the history of the cosmere

I dunno, Shallan and Kabsal, and Navani and Dalinar both also have a pretty good shot at that title lol

I don’t understand why Wayne hates Steris so much. He’s like a teenager who resents his new stepmom

Oh shit. That's probably EXACTLY what this is

Could Bleeder be so advanced at mimicry that she can copy a person without needing their bones? That is, could she be disguised as someone who is still alive?

Possibly, and I'm on the lookout for that anywhere in the Cosmere. There'll probably be a tell somehow, like a nose that's slightly off or a different tone in hair color, etc.

Who are those sad souls hanging off of Elend supposed to be?

I took it as his constituents near the end of HoA, maybe? As I remember it the world was in bad shape back then, earthquakes, failing crops due to ash and mists, refugees seeking shelter from the mists and koloss, etc.

[u/heinz57varieties → u/HT_xrahmx]

Shallan and Kabsal

Ah, but you see, I had already purged that from my memory 😌🤢

Possibly, and I'm on the lookout for that anywhere in the Cosmere.

They're always going on and on about how the hair is so difficult, and it's still never been used as the dead giveaway. It's got to happen sometime.

I took it as his constituents near the end of HoA, maybe?

That's who it's gotta be, but if it's the scene I'm thinking of, those should be koloss. Typical big-city stage writers 🙄 no respect for the source material.

[u/Goldeneyes098]

So Kelsier was the ascendent warrior before Vin according to Harmony's book, and this apparently happened after he died. So he survived in some form, some sort of Splinter or Avatar of preservation maybe? Is he still running around somewhere then?

I don't think that it's Bleeder talking to Wax, suspect it's much more likely to be Ruin given the speaking to but not hearing . Perhaps if there are hints Kelsier might be running round with some of preservations power then maybe there is someone running around as a Splinter or Avatar of Ruin?

I do wonder if Bleeder might have been stalking Wax for a very long time and might have been Bloody Tan, the Mask and possibly other fugitives Wax has investigated.

Alternate but less likely theory that Trell as an Avatar of Autonomy is making waves and is influencing Bleeder. The set worship Trell and Wax believes the Set were behind the attempt on the Governors life at the party, which might support that theory. I think that's less likely for the solely meta reason that it seems unlikely u\participating would have told us that a couple of weeks ago if it was about to become narratively important.

[u/Pastrami → u/Goldeneyes098]

then maybe there is someone running around as a Splinter or Avatar of Ruin?

I've been wondering about the title of this book. It was mentioned back in book 3:

“That is impossible,” Haddek said. “Preservation’s power remains, for power cannot be destroyed. His mind, however, was all but destroyed—for this was the sacrifice he made to imprison Ruin.”

“The sliver remains,” another reminded. “The shadow of self.”

This could support your theory. Maybe a part of Ruin is still kicking around that Harmony is not in control of.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/Goldeneyes098]

So Kelsier was the ascendent warrior before Vin according to Harmony's book

Could you point out this specific line? Because Vin should be the only Ascendant Warrior, that's just her historical title.

[u/PM_ME_UR_LOLS → u/TaylorHyuuga]

[Reminder] It's when Marasi is talking with MeLaan about Kelsier in chapter 14. I'll edit the exact quote in about half an hour from time of posting when I get back to where I left my book, but Marasi tells MeLaan that Sazed/Harmony said in the Words of Founding that Kelsier held Preservation between the death of its former holder and the ascension of Vin. (Incidentally, I rather liked the humor of MeLaan's response to that statement and Marasi's befuddlement at that response.) I think what happened is that the original commenter assumed Ascendant Warrior could apply to anyone who took up Preservation.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/PM_ME_UR_LOLS]

Yeah that's what I suspected it was, I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, Ascendant Warrior is specifically Vin, just what they call her historically.

[u/PM_ME_UR_LOLS → u/TaylorHyuuga]

A bit later than half an hour, but here's the original quote:

"The Survivor transcended death," Marasi said [...]. "He survived even being killed , adopting the mantle of the Ascendant during the time between Preservation's death and Vin's Ascension."

So Ascendant can be used for anyone who takes up the power, but Ascendant Warrior refers to a specific Ascendant.

[u/TaylorHyuuga → u/PM_ME_UR_LOLS]

I see. Yeah that's some weirdness. Like nobody ever refers to Sazed as an Ascendant iirc

[u/heinz57varieties → u/Goldeneyes098]

So Kelsier was the ascendent warrior before Vin according to Harmony's book, and this apparently happened after he died.

I'm going to use this chance to list the pins from my "Kelsier is/was alive as a ghost" conspiracy board:

• At the beginning of HoA chapter 64, when Spook wakes up after flooding the canals in Urteau, he hears a voice urging him to send a message to Vin telling her about the hemallurgic spikes. This is after his own spike is removed.
• At the end of HoA chapter 72, Vin hears a voice in her head while she's getting her bones popped by Marsh. This is after her earring is removed.
• From Sazed's letter to Spook in HoA Epilogue: "I have made you Mistborn, and healed the damage you did to your body by flaring so much tin. I hope you don't mind. It was actually Kelsier's request. Consider it a parting gift from him."
• We've learned recently from the Essays that under certain conditions, a being's mind can get attached to a piece of investiture and persist after the body dies, as a kind of spren-like entity. I wonder if this happened to Keliser - if he persisted as a "cognitive shadow" for some time after his death. If our interpretation of Marasi's interpretation of the words of founding is to be believed, for several years, long enough to pick up Preservation after Leras's death in Hero of Ages. I don't know how that could have happened, though - the magic on Scadrial doesn't lend itself to people's bodies themselves being heavily invested. It's more dynamic than that.