happyman

It actually states in the prologue that Wax's little bubble is somehow automatically to applied to everything except the metal he is carrying on his person. His ability to push away bullets comes from the fact that he is always pushing when he knows people are shooting at him. This doesn't mean you can't find an example of him reacting too quickly in the book. It might clarify some cases of those references, though.

I would modify this to a lot of training, but this is essentially correct: at the tenth heightening, commands can be given non-verbally. I'm guessing it requires an awful lot of mental self-control, though, in order for this to work. It seems more and more likely, to me, that the Command is essentially cognitive, and that it filters power much like Aons filter the Dor or metals filter the power of preservation.

I believe Brandon stated that the reason for the dilution of powers was because full Feruchemists were bred out of the population, first by TLR, and then by the Inquisitors under Ruin's influence. Ferings had existed before, but full Feruchemists were more common. Now the trait has been diluted, so single Ferichemical abilities are more common.

The conclusions were a bit more subtle than that. My argument was that the fundamental pieces (i.e. the Shards themselves) had not combined on a fundamental level, but that their interaction with each other, via Sazed, produced a system which was functionally very different from the two uncombined shards. An analogy: Hydrogen is an element which forms a gas in its pure state, and Oxygen is a very different element which also produces a gas in its pure state. When you combine them, the hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms remain essentially unchanged, but the resulting system (via chemical interactions) produces wildly different results, which in this analogy are molecules of water. Even if the pieces don't merge into each other physically, the higher-level interactions can have quite different results on the world.

They usually wash them down in some kind of liquid. Presumably, they also make them very fine powders before eating them. They note in TFE that there are merchants who specialize in Allomantic metal production. A way of eating them safely is probably part of their expertise.

I believe that he did mention once, in the Annotations, that TLR knew that his changes to humanity might not be sustainable, so he figured out an alternative way to protect people from the nasty world he had accidentally created. I assume we are going to find a very odd culture on the other pole when all is said and done. My personally guess is "cave dwellers," myself. Surely Sazed knows about them, though.

I think that Brandon also set up hooks for "intermediate" sequels, with Wax (and probably Wayne). Otherwise, why bother with the extra information they got at the end (e.g. Wax got his uncle's itinerary and Marasi got handed something by Marsh.)

You and everybody else. It's the best kind of joke: it makes sense, is in character, and yet is unexpected and ridiculous.

Exactly this. It's a really clever trick, and goes a long way towards explaining why Miles is always in obscenely good health---he has an effectively infinite storage of health, some of which he uses to keep himself permanently healthier than average, and the rest of which keeps getting compounded, so his storage keeps growing. The limit on age storage is due to the fact that the rate at which you need "new" age eventually catches up with you due to the diminishing returns from Feruchemy. I'm guessing, though, that TLR wasn't anywhere near his limit even at the end of TFE.

Also, it keeps us reading. I dunno. Getting all the answers takes some of the magic out of it as well. No pun intended.

For the Whites, I would go with something much more esoteric and technical.

Yep, I think that we've answered Wispy's question pretty thoroughly. It brings up the question of what would have happened to Miles when he grew old. I think the best answer is that his default state of health would have eventually begun failing due to his true age (once you get past ~80, the number of things you need to ward off to stay healthy grows quite rapidly), and it would continually take more and more of his stores to keep himself healthy, with less gain available from his compounding. I'm still thinking that Gold Compounders have noticeably longer-than-average lifespans baring deliberate execution or extraordinarily severe accidents.

The evidence in the books is not definite. On the other hand, if Ruin had managed to spike Alendi, he would have been able to push and pull ever so slightly on his emotions. It would have guaranteed that the Hero reacted properly to the situations he put him in. I think that Ruin would have spiked Alendi if at all possible. The piercings of the hero suggest that that might be the case. It think it is more likely than not that Ruin had a hand in the piercings having happened.

Vin wasn't really used to playing a significant role or taking the initiative. Reem or the other crews had taken all the important parts in most scams. Also, Vin lacked confidence in herself, at least before Kelsier. From inside Wayne, he has none of these weaknesses. People like him exist. It just shows that Brandon can write very different characters.

This. And because age is something that he continually needs more and more of, the law of diminishing returns hits harder with age than health.

Good summary. This also happens in the real world. It's a very real talent.

Now we just need to ask Brandon to make a magic system centered around waffles. Quick, somebody find a way to get that posted on Writing Excuses. Maybe a public appearance with user questions?

Yeah, I spotted that as well. It seems likely Brandon was thinking of a specific book when he put it in, and "Watership Down" is the one that popped into my head when I got to that part. Somehow it just fits Wayne; it's logical, in a somewhat twisted way. We're certainly not alone in thinking this, either; the TVTropes entry for Alloy of Law links from AoL to Watership down as well.

Perhaps more importantly, he is actually on each world at the same time as the events of interest in each world, and thus it would be no surprise that each time, his knowledge of magic is on par with that of the protagonists, and thus the readers. This would also explain why Hoid would make a cameo, however small, in AoL. He needed to be there to learn about Ferrings.

I don't believe the PBA holds a Shard, simply because the letter seems to be more a discussion between equals than a human approaching a god, however anthropomorphic the god may be or powerful the human may be. On the point of the Shards and Intent, though, the minds may be molded to their shard's intent, but I'm not certain how they would react to issues that are not related to their intent. I'm guessing that in those directions, they maintain their free will to an extent. It's like, the power may force their mind to stick in a particular plane, but they can move around within that plane freely. If the PBA holds a Shard that isn't related to Noninterference (dubious because I don't think he holds a shard at all), noninterference might be a choice.

Actually, somebody else here has done a good job of explaining this discrepancy. The difference between age and health is that age is something that gets continually more difficult to maintain using compounding. In order to stay the same age, you have to keep using up more and more of it. With health (or most other Feruchemical attributes), you just need to keep using the same amount until you die. Thus the cost of compounding is markedly less extreme for anything besides age. Considering how long TLR had been ruling, it's no wonder it had begun taking a toll on him.

I like this. I'm quite certain that Harmony could have found a more subtle way to get Wax involved. The Set, on the other hand, would have no qualms with it, and they would also have to be less subtle than Harmony can be.

Yeah, if it's a related religion, there's been something hokey going on. I was especially confused by Miles' last words, which said something about the people of gold and red. I'm guessing there is some truth buried in all this stuff, and that it will come to a head in one of the later sequels. As to what that truth is, we have very few hints indeed.

This has actually been mooted before (e.g. we've never seen pure Atium), but it never gained much traction. Not saying that it isn't true, though, but since Brandon has explicitly stated that Malatium is a gold/Atium alloy, it seems unlikely.

You missed that? Huh. I spotted that right off when I was reading it. Kinda threw me out of the book for a bit, actually (that's how I know it's Hoid they're talking to!). The price of knowledge.