whattheHoid Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Hello everyone! So, I have been on Scadrial for a while and I was wondering why obsidian knives? Do they just look cool? Why couldn't Vin or anyother Mistborn use say a turquoise knife or any other non metallic knife? Does obsidian affect Allomancers especially? Or is obsidian a stone blade that is exceptionally strong and not brittle/won't snap under pressure? Maybe I'm over analyzing things, but obsidian seems to be mentioned specifically in regards to Mistborn weaponry and some soldiers I thought had obsidian tipped spears? Thanks everyone! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesura Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 So obsidian is a type of volcanic rock - probably quite abundant on Scadrial, so a good/cheap material to make stuff from. It actually has a history of being used for weaponry in real life; it's reasonably hard and apparently sharpens very well (Google says sharper than surgical steel). Plus it looks and sounds cool, I guess 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whattheHoid Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 @Caesura Thanks!! And yes with the Mistcloak and the obsidian knives, impresses everyone reading with an awesome impression!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesura Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Just now, whattheHoid said: @Caesura Thanks!! And yes with the Mistcloak and the obsidian knives, impresses everyone reading with an awesome impression!! No problem! And of course, it's all about the aesthetic. Gotta be dark and mysterious with your shiny stone knives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whattheHoid Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 @Caesura Right! My first imaginings -Allmonacer Batmans!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesura Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 I might just have to draw that sometime. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whattheHoid Posted June 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 I'd like to see that! That would be a sweet graphic novel!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xtafa Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Obsidian knives made with napping are ridiculously sharp. Other non metallic materials could work but are harder to create to the same sharpness. (Though I could see properly sharpened ceramic knives being used in era 3) If you really wanted to do damage you could stab them as well, snap the handle off or shatter the blade in the wound. Not fun for anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 10 minutes ago, Xtafa said: Obsidian knives made with napping are ridiculously sharp. Other non metallic materials could work but are harder to create to the same sharpness. (Though I could see properly sharpened ceramic knives being used in era 3) If you really wanted to do damage you could stab them as well, snap the handle off or shatter the blade in the wound. Not fun for anyway. This. Turquoise, that you mentioned, is extremely soft. Basically, most non-metallic minerals are too soft to hold an edge for long, or are too difficult to work. Obsidian is a bit harder than glass, and doesn't shatter quite as easily, so it's a really good substitute for metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leyrann Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 30 minutes ago, RShara said: This. Turquoise, that you mentioned, is extremely soft. Basically, most non-metallic minerals are too soft to hold an edge for long, or are too difficult to work. Obsidian is a bit harder than glass, and doesn't shatter quite as easily, so it's a really good substitute for metal. This, basically. The three main categories of materials are metals, ceramics and polymers. Metals are allomantically active unless they're aluminium (and aluminium is quite soft), polymers are not usable as weapons because they're too soft, so you have to work with ceramics, which tend to be very brittle. Obsidian is perhaps the one notable exception in history of a ceramic being used as weapon, perhaps together with glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandering Investor Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 Very sharp, reasonably strong, so they make good weapons. Supply wise, Scadrial has plenty. Not made of metal, so no allomancer pushing. And they're black, so not only do they look cool, they blend into the night for sneaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The One Who Connects Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 While I am essentially agreeing with everybody here, I think the reason that Obsidian Knives became a trend is because of the proven effectiveness of the Inquisitor's Obsidian Axes. I mean, the beheadings/executions at the fountain lasted for hours, no? The Inquisitors needed a material that would last for hours without breaking. They'd prefer not having to sharpen it during that period too. (Even though I don't think TLR cared, a clean beheading is as preferable to the one doing it as it is to the ones watching it, something Inquisitors would understand) Obsidian checked all the boxes(as well as being allomancer-proof), the people got very strong proof that Obsidian weapons were viable, and the rest is history. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king of nowhere Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 at this point the question is why simple knives and not full macahuitl, which is basically a stave with obsidian blades embedded at the edges; it has the shape of a sword, cuts like a sword (better than most, actually) and it's the sword's substitute in cultures that did not have the metallurgic knowledge to make swords. It's inferior to swords because the obsidian blades dull or shatter more easily and it's not worth much for piercing - which also forced the aztecs to fight in more loose formations - but it's the best you can get without metal. Possibly they didn't use macahuitls because of encumbrance issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+robardin Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 10 minutes ago, king of nowhere said: at this point the question is why simple knives and not full macahuitl, which is basically a stave with obsidian blades embedded at the edges; it has the shape of a sword, cuts like a sword (better than most, actually) and it's the sword's substitute in cultures that did not have the metallurgic knowledge to make swords. It's inferior to swords because the obsidian blades dull or shatter more easily and it's not worth much for piercing - which also forced the aztecs to fight in more loose formations - but it's the best you can get without metal. Possibly they didn't use macahuitls because of encumbrance issues. Inquisitors did use obsidian edges mounted on wooden handles in exactly that way, both as axes (which is what I pictured when described as "obsidian axes", not fist-held "hand axes" like Neolithic tools would be) and as macahuitl style weapons with multiple blades mounted on a club, as seen when the Inquisitor chases Vin after she and Kelsier have their little expedition into Kredik Shaw in the first book (Mistborn: The Final Empire, Ch. 14) Quote ...a second Inquisitor, his body springing with shadow images, stepped up and slammed something sharp into her lower side. Vin gasped in pain. There was a sickening sound as the creature pulled his weapon free of her body; it was a length of wood affixed with sharp obsidian blades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calderis Posted June 4, 2018 Report Share Posted June 4, 2018 (edited) Agreeing with all points made, I just thought a measurement of exactly how sharp obsidian can get would help explain it. Quote Well-crafted obsidian blades, as with any glass knife, can have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, the cutting edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometers thick. That's... Kinda insane. That's "I didn't even feel this cut me" sharp. Edited June 4, 2018 by Calderis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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