Ruin, Cultivation, and Resonances

[Trusk'our he/him]

I've been wondering why Hemalurgic spikes don't usually provide Resonances, and I have a hypothesis; Ruin's Intent it ruining the potential of power combos.

Quote

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/373/#e12024

Questioner

As far as Hemalurgy, when you give that-- when it's done to somebody, would that create a new resonance?

Brandon Sanderson

It's possible that it could. Though I'm gonna say, most of the time, no... Lots of things are possible, but I'll give you a "mostly no" on that one.

Questioner

What about savantism? Is that possible with Hemalurgy?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it is.

We know that Surgebinders have Resonances that are more noticeable than that of Twinborn, as per the Mistborn era 2 Ars Arcanum.

Now, this could be due to their being more Investiture in Surgebinding than the Metallic Arts, but I think that because Surgebinding is half Cultivation's manifestation of magic that her Intent may be "boosting" the constructive interference of the Knights Radiant.

Conversely, Ruin is the opposite; it's about breaking things down, so constructive interference in the form of Resonances doesn't seem like something that would come naturally to it.

Now, I think that because of this that if you were to somehow replace Ruin's Investiture/Intent in a pair of Hemalurgic spikes with a different Investiture/Intent (such as through Awakening or Forgery), then give those spikes to someone, that person would start to manifest a Resonance if they used the powers enough. This would be especially effective if you could find a way to use Cultivation's Investiture/Intent instead, though I don't know how it would be achieved.

[Koloss17 She/They]

Actually, I really dig this theory! It certainly makes sense to me! Ruin by their nature resists growing into something more, and so a lack of strong resonances totally fits.

[Trusk'our he/him]

1 hour ago, Koloss17 said:

Actually, I really dig this theory! It certainly makes sense to me! Ruin by their nature resists growing into something more, and so a lack of strong resonances totally fits.

Thanks! I think that this could be yet another interesting way to limit Hemalurgy, and perhaps be rather fun to find ways to overcome.

That's my favorite part about the Metallic Arts; it's simple enough to learn the basics, but there always seems to be something new to learn about them or new ways to use them.