Brandon Sanderson Explains How He Came up With Hemalurgy, the ‘Dark Magic’ of Mistborn

Brandon Sanderson reveals the origins of Hemalurgy in Mistborn on his YouTube channel. He shared how he wanted to explore a magic system that holds some moral complications. In fact, one of his mentors, the late David Farland, had a cool magic system in his Runelords series, which involved stealing people’s strength and attributes.

In Allomancy, you’re relying on the power from beyond, the power of the spiritual realm. For Feruchemy, you’re relying on your own strength from the past. What about somebody who just stole people’s magical powers? And I designed Hemalurgy around that, which is why we ended up with Inquisitors with spikes through their eyes.

Story-wise, this is a great addition to the franchise’s library of magic systems. The author designed it to feel unsettling, especially with its procedure. Not only does it involve harming others, but it also raises the question of how far someone is willing to go for power and whether stolen abilities can ever truly be justified.

Why Is Hemalurgy Controversial in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn?

As mentioned, Hemalurgy involves stealing someone else’s power through violence and sacrifice, which is why it is often considered a dark magic. Unlike the more balanced abilities of Allomancy and Feruchemy, Hemalurgy is rooted in corruption, manipulation, and moral consequences.

To perform this, one has to drive a metal spike through a person’s heart to steal a portion of their power or spirit. The spike is then implanted into another individual, with the placement in the body determining the specific ability that is transferred.

Of course, time is very precious here, so the spike is ideally driven directly from one person to the next without delay. The longer the spike remains outside a body, the more of its stolen power deteriorates and fades away.

What’s more interesting about this magic system is that knowledge of Hemalurgy isn’t something that you put on display. Understanding this can be very risky, as it creates reasons for manipulation by powerful entities. This is why most characters who are aware of this often hide information about it.

Sanderson Will Have to Downplay The Magic System in Mistborn Film

The magic systems in Mistborn use a lot of rules, and a screen adaptation with limited time and budget certainly cannot accommodate them all, especially when introducing a new movie franchise to the public. This is why Sanderson believes it is better to set some restrictions and make realistic decisions.

During an interview via Very Really Good, he said he will not include all of the powers in Mistborn.

I think I’m going to have to downplay a few of the abilities. I don’t want to have so many things for people to keep track of. I’m looking at sort of… doing things where the things you like from the book are there behind the scenes, but we’re not talking about them. Like, all the powers are there, but we’re emphasizing a few of them.

Since he’s writing the script, it’s going to be his own discretion which powers will make it to the movie and which ones won’t be mentioned at all. However, readers who are familiar with all the magic systems in the books are assured that they are still canon.

Book Series:	Mistborn
Genre:	High fantasy
Publication Date:	July 2006 – present
Publishers:	Tor Books (US), Gollancz (UK)
Number of Installments:	7 books, 1 novella

What are your thoughts on Mistborn’s Hemalurgy? Let us know in the comments!