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Paalm

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Paalm
Lessie portrait.png
by Jamie Knierim
Family
Spouse Waxillium Ladrian
Born Third Generation
Died 341 PC[1]
Abilities Hemalurgist
Aliases Bleeder, Lessie, Replar Innate
Species Kandra
Homeworld Scadrial
Universe Cosmere

“ They dress in painted sequins. They drink wine. They laugh, and smile, and play, and dance, and eat, and quietly kill. All part of Harmony's plan. All actors on a stage. That's what you are too, Waxillium Ladrian. It's what all men are. ”

— Bleeder speaking in Wax's head for the first time.[2]

Paalm was a female kandra of the Third Generation. She was an agent of Harmony sent to protect Waxillium Ladrian in the Roughs, under the guise of a human woman, Lessie.[1]

Sometime after Lessie's supposed death, she chose to remove one of her Hemalurgic spikes. She used only a single spike at a time to avoid being under Harmony's influence.[3] She used spikes of a metal unknown even to Harmony to grant herself Allomantic and Feruchemical powers.[4] During that time she went by the alias Bleeder.[3] She colluded with the Set in order to execute a plot to free Elendel from Harmony's influence.

She ultimately committed suicide to avoid being taken control of by Harmony after she was shot by Wax with a second Hemalurgic spike.[1]

History

The Final Empire

Paalm served the Lord Ruler directly. She was specifically reserved for his missions. She stopped rebellions and toppled kingdoms in his service, and became intimately familiar with the workings of Hemalurgy. She was utterly loyal to the Lord Ruler until the Final Ascension, when she switched her loyalties to Harmony, to the point of fanaticism.[5]

Lessie

At Harmony's direction, Paalm took the form of a human woman named Lessie in order to seek out and protect Wax in the Roughs.[1]

Wax first encountered Lessie at The Weeping Bull, where she was disguised as a dancer. During their second encounter, he remarked that she was very uncoordinated and wore a pink garter. Wax formally met her while hunting Granite Joe. She claimed to be hunting him as well but was actually in Granite Joe's employ. As Paalm was actually working to protect Wax at Harmony's behest, Lessie seemingly had a change of heart when Wax told her that he still thought her legs were pretty, and Lessie shot Granite Joe in the neck with her crossbow, killing him.[6]

After this time, Lessie became a law-woman alongside Wax. During their time together, the two became romantically involved and were eventually married.

While hunting Bloody Tan in his lair in the town of Feltrel, Lessie and Wax split up. At some point, she is taken hostage. Wax attempted to shoot Bloody Tan who is using Lessie as a human shield, but he pulled Lessie into the path of Wax's bullet, making her take the shot to the head, seemingly killing her.[7]

As part of Harmony's plan, Wax moved back to Elendel, and Paalm's time as Lessie was over. Some time afterward, she went on a murderous rampage and broke free of Harmony's influence, disobeying her contract with him.[1][3][5]

Bleeder

by Ingvild Schage
The Lawman and the Kandra

“ She doesn't just kill. She Ruins. ”

— TenSoon talking to Wax about Paalm

Paalm took the name Bleeder and set about a plan to free the people of Elendel from Harmony's influence. At some point, she entered into an alliance with the Set to achieve her goals. She killed Idashwy with a spike in order to steal her Feruchemical power.[8][9][10]

Using her newly acquired power, Bleeder disrupted Winsting Innate's auction for his Senate vote, firing several shots at the guests to get them to begin attacking one another. She then entered Winsting's saferoom ahead of him; murdering him inside and cutting out his tongue in a symbolic gesture, removing Harmony's voice. As she left, she killed his bodyguards outside the saferoom.[6][8][11][12][13]

Bleeder killed and impersonated Governor Replar Innate to rile up the people of Elendel. She impersonated a man named Johnst who blew up a dam, causing food shortages and economic instability. She impersonated Larskpur and killed Father Bin inside a church with spikes in his eyes -- another symbolic gesture, removing Harmony's eyes[13] -- to turn the Survivorists against the Pathians. When the people grew aggressive, she exposed the Kandra who attempted to calm the violence and pushed harder for violent rebellion against Innate. Exposing the Kandra was symbolic for deafening Harmony, as they were his ears.

As Wax confronted her, she attempted to flee by use of a spike granting herself Allomantic steel. Wax gives chase, stopping her at the Eastbridge. In that confrontation, Bleeder attempted to convince him that she was Lessie, finally succeeding when he shot her with his Pathian earring, reforged as a bullet. Before Harmony could fully take control of her, she committed suicide.[13][14][15]

Abilities

As a Kandra of the Third Generation, Paalm excels at creating bodies. Her considerable expertise came from her history of service to the Lord Ruler, time spent crushing entire kingdoms and rebellions for him. She also learned a great deal about Hemalurgy, learning how to grant herself Allomantic and Feruchemical abilities with spikes of an unknown metal. She was proficient with her stolen abilities but seemed to prefer to employ Feruchemical steel. She had the knowledge to create at least one new kind of Hemalurgic construct using only a single spike in their creation. She was able to hide herself from Harmony's sight by spiking herself with a material that was not of Harmony, but of Trell.[3][5][16][17][4]

Trivia

  • The name "Bleeder" is possibly derived from the doctors of antiquity, who would force patients to bleed profusely, in an effort to purge sickness and disease. This is comparable to Paalm's actions in Shadows of Self in which she causes great harm to Wax and the Basin in an effort to cleanse him and it of Harmony's control.
  • According to Brandon, writing her character was "probably the darkest I've gone in one of my books, ... but it was also somewhere I hadn't explored before, and so it was really interesting to me.".[18]

Notes

  1. ↑ a b c d e Shadows of Self chapter 26#
  2. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 9#
  3. ↑ a b c d Shadows of Self chapter 7#
  4. ↑ a b Shadows of Self epilogue#
  5. ↑ a b c Shadows of Self chapter 13#
  6. ↑ a b Shadows of Self prologue#
  7. ↑ The Alloy of Law prologue#
  8. ↑ a b Shadows of Self chapter 6#
  9. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 11#
  10. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 17#
  11. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 4#
  12. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 5#
  13. ↑ a b c Shadows of Self chapter 23#
  14. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 24#
  15. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 25#
  16. ↑ Shadows of Self signing San Jose
    — Arcanum - 2015-10-09#
  17. ↑ Shadows of Self chapter 21#
  18. ↑ Skyward Houston signing
    — Arcanum - 2018-11-19#
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