Questioner
Why in the world would the Lord Ruler spike himself?
Questioner
No.
Brandon Sanderson
...Because he needed to give himself the powers that he didn't have. He could have done it like-- gained the knowledge but the power was gone so fast he actually needed to-- Well no no no, the spikes, the spikes, the spikes. So, it doesn't matter if he was spiked because he was hiding the metals inside himself so people couldn't Push or Pull on them. That's the real reason he was doing that. Does that make sense?
Brandon Sanderson
Metal that's inside of him--
Questioner
Ruin influenced him, what did the spiking do?
Brandon Sanderson
Well, the metals that were stuck through him were so people couldn’t Push or Pull on them. If they were outside his body people would know he was a Feruchemist. Which is the very thing he was-- so he would stick the metals inside of himself to hide them.
Questioner
And he did that as Hemalurgic spikes?
Brandon Sanderson
I'd have to go back and look because-- Lord Ruler is he spiked or has he just got--
Isaac Stewart
I thought he was... spiked but I can't remem--
Brandon Sanderson
You're asking something that I wrote 12 years ago.
Isaac Stewart
Peter, was the Lord Ruler spiked?
Brandon Sanderson
Lord Ruler was spiked, right? Or is it just--
Peter Ahlstrom
I don't think so.
Brandon Sanderson
--piereced with metalminds, right? They're not actual spikes, just metalminds.
And I want to ask the Sharders on there [the recorder] about that Lord Ruler question, because I didn’t think he was spiked but--
Isaac Stewart
I think I recall him having the bands with spikes in them?