Spiked eye vision

[Cocoa he/him]

Does anyone else find it strange that Kell apparently sees spiritual lines simply by virtue of having a spike through his eye? Back in Bands of Mourning, I had assumed that he was just burning steel or iron to compensate for his missing eye, same as I assumed the Inquisitors had been doing back in the original series. But now that we know he can't use allomancy anymore, that would seem to imply that it's having the spike itself that grants metal-vision, regardless of if you're burning metals or not. Why do you think that happens? Could it be that having a spike pierce through a physical sensory organ to your spiritweb lets you observe the Spiritual Realm in a limited way? Would having a (bronze?) spike piercing your eardrum let you hear rhythms, in addition to whatever stolen attribute the spike itself conferred?

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

6 minutes ago, Cocoa said:

Does anyone else find it strange that Kell apparently sees spiritual lines simply by virtue of having a spike through his eye? Back in Bands of Mourning, I had assumed that he was just burning steel or iron to compensate for his missing eye, same as I assumed the Inquisitors had been doing back in the original series. But now that we know he can't use allomancy anymore, that would seem to imply that it's having the spike itself that grants metal-vision, regardless of if you're burning metals or not. Why do you think that happens? Could it be that having a spike pierce through a physical sensory organ to your spiritweb lets you observe the Spiritual Realm in a limited way? Would having a (bronze?) spike piercing your eardrum let you hear rhythms, in addition to whatever stolen attribute the spike itself conferred?

This is an interesting thought.  Following for sure.  

I am a huge fan of the vision from spiked eyes. I didn't really ever think that inquisitors needed to burn steel constantly but I didn't realize a spike other than one granting steel or iron would suffice until this book.  I wonder if it is any spike or specific to steel?  Is Kelsiers spike made of steel even?  

[Cocoa he/him]

3 minutes ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

This is an interesting thought.  Following for sure.  

I am a huge fan of the vision from spiked eyes. I didn't really ever think that inquisitors needed to burn steel constantly but I didn't realize a spike other than one granting steel or iron would suffice until this book.  I wonder if it is any spike or specific to steel?  Is Kelsiers spike made of steel even?  

The type of spike is a good point too. I'm a bit torn on the topic. My gut instinct is to say it's still a steel spike, because that's what we saw in the eyes back in Era 1, and the Hemalurgy diagram has the eyes marked as physical bind points. But on the other hand, back in Secret History Kell was talking to Spook about finding a new "string" to anchor him to the Physical Realm—and that sounds a lot like a duralumin spike stealing Connection to me.

[alder24]

5 hours ago, Cocoa said:

Does anyone else find it strange that Kell apparently sees spiritual lines simply by virtue of having a spike through his eye? Back in Bands of Mourning, I had assumed that he was just burning steel or iron to compensate for his missing eye, same as I assumed the Inquisitors had been doing back in the original series. But now that we know he can't use allomancy anymore, that would seem to imply that it's having the spike itself that grants metal-vision, regardless of if you're burning metals or not. Why do you think that happens? Could it be that having a spike pierce through a physical sensory organ to your spiritweb lets you observe the Spiritual Realm in a limited way? Would having a (bronze?) spike piercing your eardrum let you hear rhythms, in addition to whatever stolen attribute the spike itself conferred?

No, Hemalurgy changes the body. Even inquisitors didn't have to burn iron or steel to see, they just see steel lines, as Hemalurgy changed them allowing them to see in this manner.

Spike through the eye will make you see steel lines. It might require a proper spike (physical quadrant of metals) but overall Hemalurgy will change your body to give you steelsight, as far as we know. It's possible that a spike through your ears or other sensory organ will grant you other "invested senses", like hearing rhythms. But steelsight detects matter, Physical Realm not Spiritual Realm. They see PR around them only. 

Kelsier doesn't see into SR. He can see Axis - atoms - the smallest elements making up everything. At most powerful applications steelsight can detect even fundamental forces acting on Axi. That's what Kelsier sees. 

Spoiler

Argent

Mechanically speaking, how does steelsight work? The scientific definition of "metal" gets a little murky in the middle of the periodic table-

Brandon Sanderson

It does.

Argent

-and we see that powerful enough Allomancers can see more than just metals.

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

Argent

Are Connection and perception significantly involved here?

Brandon Sanderson

To an extent, but the science of it also is. I feel like the stronger steelsight is getting, the more it is detecting things like electromagnetic bonds and even, you know, the strong and weak force and some of these sorts of things that is just in everything, right? And I do think that in strongest applications, Allomancy is going to be moving beyond metals and moving toward things like fundamental forces. So there you go.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

TLM epilogue 4:

Quote

Kelsier didn’t see quite as he once had. One eye saw as a mortal, the other
as an immortal. His spiked eye not only pinned his soul to his bones, but gave him a constant overlay of blue, letting him see the world as a being like Sazed did. Outlining not only sources of metal, but all things. The very axi that made up matter had their own polarity, influenceable with Steelpushing under the right circumstances.

 

[Treamayne]

26 minutes ago, alder24 said:

He can see Axis - atoms - the smallest elements making up everything

Minor quibble, but "Axi" is already plural - the singular is Axon (SA/RoW Spoilers):

Spoiler

“You write about something called ‘axi’ in our notebook,” Navani said, trying to distract Raboniel. “What are these?”

“An axon is the smallest division of matter,” Raboniel said.

Though, I'm not quite sure they really are atoms - at least the way the term has been used in books so far makes it seem they use it for molecules (even if, in WoB, Brandon has called them atom equivalents). So, at best, I think we can say that Axi could refer to molecules or atoms.

6 hours ago, Cocoa said:

I had assumed that he was just burning steel or iron to compensate for his missing eye

The thing to keep in mind is that investiture is what is allowing a person to see metal lines. In a normal allomancer, you are not channelling investiture unless you are burning a metal (and only burning iron or steel shows these (possible) connections). However, in Hemalurgy, there is a constant source of investiture allowing MetalSight - the spike's own Charge. I think it's a combination of spike placement, physiological adaptation to the Hemalurgy, and the constant presence of the Investiture Charge that allows a hemalurgist access to MetalSight. Also note, that when we get to see the MetalSight from first person POV, it's specifically noted that because a Steel/Iron line's thickness is dependant upon the source - and seeing axi is such a small source that the lines themselves are difficult to see - just the result of everything outlined in blue is obvious. Era 1:

Spoiler

TFE Ch 38:

Quote

With his Inquisitor’s eyes, however, Kar could see the ironlines of these things—the blue threads were fine, nearly invisible, but they outlined the world for him.

HoA Ch 34:

Quote

Marsh raised an eyebrow, scanning the room with his spiked eyes. The way his sight worked, it was hard for him to distinguish colors, but he was familiar enough with his powers now that he could pick them out if he wanted. The Allomantic lines from the metals inside of most things were really quite expressive.

 

 

[alder24]

4 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Minor quibble, but "Axi" is already plural - the singular is Axon (SA/RoW Spoilers):

Oh yeah, I know. I'm writing this from my phone and autocorrect must have changed it.

7 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

(SA/RoW Spoilers):

  Hide contents

“You write about something called ‘axi’ in our notebook,” Navani said, trying to distract Raboniel. “What are these?”

“An axon is the smallest division of matter,” Raboniel said.

Technically the smallest division of matter are quarks but I doubt that's what Axi are, or at least that people in Cosmere discovered quarks at all.

5 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Though, I'm not quite sure they really are atoms - at least the way the term has been used in books so far makes it seem they use it for molecules (even if, in WoB, Brandon has called them atom equivalents). So, at best, I think we can say that Axi could refer to molecules or atoms.

They are not, they are Cosmere equivalent of atoms. I wrote "atoms" to make it easier to understand.

Spoiler

Argent

At the end of The Bands of Mourning, Wax starts seeing what seems like souls, as he’s holding the Bands. He sees lines. He ponders that man/metals they’re same thing. Is he seeing Investiture there?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, to an extent he’s seeing—yes. He’s seeing the Cosmere equivalent of atoms, Investiture, and energy waves all being the same thing.

Argent

Okay, so kind of a building block of things.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it’s almost like he’s seeing the axi, right, the atoms.

Calamity Chicago signing (Feb. 22, 2016)

 

Spoiler

NotOJebus

Hey Brandon!

Here's a quote from Oathbringer:

She willed steps to Soulcast beneath her feet. Individual axi of air lined up and packed next to each other, then Soulcast into stone—though in spite of the realms being linked, this was difficult.

Hey Brandon, what's an axi?

Brandon Sanderson

It is the word for an atom in the cosmere, coming from one of the original magics used on Yolen pre-shattering. To some, it's a theoretical smallest division of matter. But others use it scientifically to mean simply an atom.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 22, 2018)