Summary:Shadows of Self

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This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of Shadows of Self We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.

Prologue

Waxillium gets off his horse, getting the kid who'd been following him to stay with the horses, and enters a saloon. He asks the barkeep about 'Granite Joe', the outlaw he has been tracking. The barkeep tells him that if he'll pay, he might know someone who knows Granite Joe. Once Wax says he will pay, the barkeep leads him to a small room near the stairs, telling him to wait. While waiting, a woman breaks in carefully through the window, but is surprised to see someone else in the room. After a standoff, they work out they are both after the same quarry, and resolve to work together and split the reward. When Wax tells her that he asked the barkeep about Joe, she's incredulous, telling him everyone in the saloon belongs to Joe. They realize it is a trap, but when they try and escape back through the window, they are stopped by a sharpshooter. They decide to make for the next floor and escape through a window on the other side of the building. They make it, and find a window. Wax whistles for his horse, but eventually the kid walks around, and tells him that Destroyer (the horse) is just drinking still. As they consider just jumping, Wax trusting in his coinshot abilities to land safely, he notices the sun glint off something, and immediately pulls the woman (who he's found out is called Lessie) to the ground as a shot is fired. The sharpshooter had shifted around. Wax realizes that Granite Joe is likely in the basement, and so grabs Lessie while rolling to the ground, and then uses his feruchemical ability to tap and store weight along with his allomantic ability to push on metal to crash down through the floor to the basement. The pair crash down onto a dining table, interrupting Granite Joe's meal. After a short verbal exchange, a quicker gunfight ensues. Both of Granite Joe's guards are dropped, though Wax loses his weapon in the process. He starts moving to attack the man when he hears a weapon click behind him, and stops to see Lessie pointing a crossbow at him. He realizes that Lessie had been bought out by Joe too, and that the whole situation had been a set up. But then Lessie surprises both men by shooting Granite Joe. As reinforcements scramble down to the basement, Wax strikes a dramatic pose next to the body of Granite Joe. The sight intimidates the thugs who had just come down, who then immediately return the way they came. Wax uses his abilities to take them back up through the hole they had made.

Ars Arcanum

The arcanum displays a detailed chart of the metals (Metals Quick Reference Chart), a List of Metals with properties explained and a short essay, On The Three Metallic Arts. The last compares Allomancy with Investitures from Sel, as well as a mention that the Cosmere is greatly interested in Hemalurgy. The first parts are the same as The Alloy of Law arcanum. A further section discussing the twinborn combinations of powers is additional to this.