Miles's Metalminds...

[Oudeis he/him]

I read something somewhere. Not sure where, but I know it wasn't expressly stated in the book (thought it was implied heavily). I will try to find citation, but if anyone remembers this and can point me in the right direction that'd be appreciated.

After Miles has his metalminds removed, he still has some stored health. He heals several volleys of bullets before finally dying. I read somewhere that he had needles of gold inside his muscles that he used as metalminds.

...Metal needles. Piercing his body.

Was Miles a Hemalurgist?

I realize it's a bit of a stretch, but is it possible? Some of his powers seemed extreme, even for a Compounder. Getting shot in the eye? A solid percentage of his brain was pushed out the back of his skull, and he doesn't even stumble enough to let go of the ladder he's clinging to with one hand on a moving train.

Gold steals Feruchemical abilities; health, breath, determination, and caloric energy. Miles even says that he doesn't need to breath anymore; I realize that the obvious explanation is that he simply heals the damage as fast as he suffocates, but storing breath would be another way. It just seems odd that he would bother to point out that he no longer needs this one thing that a gold spike would grant. And few people in any story I've ever read are as determined as Miles Hundredlives.

I realize this is far-fetched and every argument I make CAN be explained away, but taken as a whole, I think they at least make a compelling hypothesis.

[Eric]

Without evidence to support it, though, there's no real reason to buy in to it. But you're not the first to come to that conclusion, for what it's worth.

[Observer]

On the not breathing, it's kind of a way to give you an idea of how powerful Miles is. The sheer enourmous scale of what his power can do is expressed by his lack of need to breath. While piercing spikes instantly brings to mind Hemalurgy, to me all he was doing was replicating TLR's trick and keeping his metalminds from being pushed and pulled, nothing more. The odds of him and/or the set somehow stumbling on to Hemalurgy aren't good, and Miles doesn't ever really ever hint at having other powers. If he was a Hemalurgist, he'd probably have given himself more abilities.

His determination can be easily chalked up to his personality. His POVs indicate that he's got a goal he believes is not only true but also divine. That's enough to make a non-allomancer determined enough.

[Oathbringer he/him]

Yeah, I think it was a really good idea to hide many spare metalminds so that he could live if captured from many things (but not repetitive shooting, say torture) and that people aren't sure how many he has to cause errant estimation. I would say it isn't hemalurgy because any mention would have been stomped out by all mistings/mistborns or feruchemists, with no more inquisitors to exercise it, not only would secrets be lost but the afore mentioned groups would not want to be targets of groups which wish for the powers of allomancy and feruchemy.

[Krelian]

Miles had the durability of the Lord Ruler, essentially (though Brandon has said they used their compounding differently, IIRC). 

 

The LR could take spears to the chest and not even blink. If Miles is using the exact same mechanisms (even if in a different way) to do his healing, why are Miles' feats surprising?

[Voidus]

On Miles gaining feruchemical breath or determination abilities, since he doesn't have the requisite allomantic abilities for compounding he'd still have to store those traits, which is never even vaguely alluded to or suggested and the breathing comment almost directly contradicts it. I'd say it's almost certainly just because he wanted to have an ultimate back up in case his metalminds were removed, he did blow himself up at one point, he could have lost his metalminds then if he wasn't careful. If it was hemalurgy then why would he only steal powers with gold? energy and breath is pretty useless for him, determination isn't really a necessity , why not steal one of the offensive allomantic powers like steel or iron, or a more useful feruchemical ability like strength or speed. Miles able to even just store and tap speed without compounding would be a fearsome opponent indeed.