Hemalurgy
The third of Scadrial's three classical metallic arts — alongside Allomancy and Feruchemy — known principally from the religious histories of the old empire. The unsigned author of the book Ironeyes handed Wax argues that, with Ruin gone and Saze now holding both sides, Hemalurgy is no longer dangerous, and should be used. MB2:SoS:Ch 2
A third art of metal use, named by Marsh. Where Allomancy draws power from the metal itself and Feruchemy uses metal to draw power from the user's own body, Hemalurgy uses a spike driven through one body and into another to draw power from a third party — usually killing them — and grant it to the bearer. The Lord Ruler built the three creature-castes of his empire on it: the koloss as his soldiers, the kandra as his spies, the Inquisitors as his priests. All three carry the engineered weakness that the Hemalurgic wound leaves the mind open to outside Allomantic control. MB1:HoA:Ch 40 superseded at MB2:SoS:Ch 2
A bloody art performed by driving a metal spike through the heart of a living person and then through the body of another, so that the spike emerges carrying something taken from the first and granting it to the second. The spikes that make a Steel Inquisitor are made this way. MB1:HoA:Prologue superseded at MB1:HoA:Ch 40
Known facts
- spike-must-pass-through-donor-then-recipientThe art works by hammering a metal spike point-first through the chest of a living donor — through the heart — and then into the body of a recipient laid beneath, so that the spike crosses both bodies in one piercing. The table Marsh works at is built for this, the upper surface hollowed to seat the recipient below the donor.MB1:HoA:Prologue
- name-derived-from-bloodThe art is named Hemalurgy for its dependence on blood — death is involved in every transfer of power it performs. The in-world treatise's writer cites Marsh calling the process 'messy' and finds that the wrong word: not strong enough.MB1:HoA:Ch 12
- allomancy-imbues-stronger-when-spike-passes-from-heart-to-hostAn Allomantic imbue — a spike that grants Allomantic ability — is significantly more potent when the spike is driven directly through the victim's heart and on into the waiting recipient, with no interval in between. Killing the Allomancer first, harvesting the spike, and traveling somewhere to plant it later bleeds away most of the power. Marsh frames this as a waste even as he is forced to it by Ruin's orders.MB1:HoA:Ch 34
- kandra-koloss-inquisitors-are-cousin-creationsElend and Vin piece together for the briefing the joint architecture of Hemalurgy: the Lord Ruler used the third art to build the koloss as his soldiers, the kandra as his spies, and the Inquisitors as his priests. All three are spike-creatures. All three were built with the same engineered weakness — a wounded mind that allows an outside Allomancer to take control via the same channel Vin used on Human and the koloss pack. Vin credits TenSoon for the insight — he had called the two creatures cousins and she had realised she could bond one the way she had the other. The same vulnerability, they conclude, accounts for Marsh's obedience to the Lord Ruler and for his recent slide.MB1:HoA:Ch 40
- spikes-can-be-small-and-leak-charge-while-outside-a-bodyThe size of a Hemalurgic spike, Marsh notes, is mostly immaterial — a pinch of metal will do, the same way a pinch fuels Allomancy or a small ring holds a small Feruchemical charge. The reasons Inquisitor spikes are made so large are intimidation and the practical need to keep the spike intact while it is driven in. The other variable is time: a spike leaks its Hemalurgic charge while sitting outside a body, so a spike intended only to bind a host needs much less charge than a spike intended to grant powers. For piercing without granting, a small pin will do; for Inquisitor-making, the spike must go in fresh and full.MB1:HoA:Ch 42
- is-ruins-power-his-spike-creations-his-armyMarsh tells Vin outright: Hemalurgy is Ruin's power. Every Inquisitor, koloss, and kandra the Lord Ruler made by driving spikes through living people was, without his knowing it, building Ruin an army. Ruin waited a thousand years in patience for the bargain to come due.MB1:HoA:Ch 65
- takes-feruchemical-talentsSpike-through-the-chest can also steal a Feruchemical talent — not only an Allomantic one — and grant it to the killer; the older Inquisitor method drove the spike through the victim directly into the recipient to keep the power from being lost, but a freshly made spike coated in the victim's blood will achieve a similar effect. Wax and Wayne read this in the unsigned book Ironeyes handed them, then walk into Idashwy's kitchen and find the wound it predicts.MB2:SoS:Ch 6
Backreferences
- summaryMB2:BoM:Ch 3
- factReLuur's Spike
- summaryMB2:BoM:Ch 6
- factThe Lord Mistborn
- factThe Lord Mistborn
- summaryMB2:BoM:Ch 17
- factUnkeyed Metalmind
- summaryMB2:BoM:Ch 26
- factMeLaan
- factEdwarn Ladrian
- factThe Set's Hemalurgic Program
- summaryMB2:BoM:Ch 27
- summaryMB2:BoM:Ch 29
- factWayne
- summaryMB1:HoA:Prologue
- factSteel Inquisitor
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 6
- factSteel Inquisitor
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 12
- factHemalurgy
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 15
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 34
- factHemalurgy
- factBlessing of Stability
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 40
- factElend Venture
- factHemalurgy
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 42
- factHemalurgy
- factHemalurgic Bind Points
- factSteel Inquisitor
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 62
- factkandra
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 65
- factVin
- factHemalurgy
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 66
- factkandra
- factBlessing
- factBlessing
- factGoradel
- factQuellion
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 72
- factMarsh
- factVin's Earring
- factVin's Earring
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 76
- summaryMB1:HoA:Ch 79
- factkandra
- factkandra
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 6
- factMarasi
- factCycle
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 8
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 13
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 19
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 23
- factDuralumin
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 24
- factWayne
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 25
- factLeecher
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 28
- factMarsh
- factThe Set
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 34
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 41
- factMistborn Allomantic Lock
- factNon-Lethal Hemalurgy
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 52
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 53
- factNon-Lethal Hemalurgy
- factThe Set's Hemalurgic Creatures
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 55
- factThe Community
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 59
- factGave Entrone
- factGave Entrone
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 60
- factRioter
- summaryMB2:TLM:Ch 65
- factWaxillium Ladrian
- summaryMB2:SoS:Ch 2
- factRuin
- factIdashwy
- summaryMB2:SoS:Ch 7
- factBleeder
- factBlessing
- factMarasi
- factRian
- factBleeder
- summaryMB2:SoS:Ch 21
- factBleeder
- factPaalm's Hemalurgic Canines
- summaryMB2:SoS:Ch 23
- summaryMB2:SoS:Ch 25
- factBleeder
- factWax's Pathian Earring