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Gems and People


Philomath

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So I’m not quite sure how to insert a WoB, but I had a thought after seeing this one in another thread.  

“ceraius

This is involving gemstones and their properties on Roshar. Given that Sapphire and Ruby are actually the same crystal - corundum - differing only in their impurities - how would you explain the differences in their properties, with respect both to their essences and their function in fabrials? For example, I am assuming that two identical fabrials, one made with a sapphire and one made with a ruby, would not function the same. To take it a step further, any corundum that is not ruby red is simply called a sapphire of whichever color it happens to be (blue sapphire, green sapphire, colorless sapphire, etc.). How does this play into things; would a blue sapphire have different properties than a green one or a colorless one?

Brandon Sanderson

This was a big part of the magic for me in working on Roshar, as I wanted the gems to work differently from Scadrials metals in order to avoid repetition. The fact that many gems are basically the same thing was one of the launching points actually. Let me say that you are on the right track.

On Roshar, color of the gem is more important than actual crystalline structure.”

I think it is an interesting connection that many gems are technically the same, but their different impurities is what makes them a different color. I think it is a great parallel to the characters of Stormlight (and people in general) that it is their own “impurities”; imperfections and weaknesses that truly make them who they are as people and Radiants. It makes them unique and helps them grow and progress. People have value and worth not despite their imperfections, but because of them. And I think this is a big part of Stormlight Archive. So many characters are broken and instead of viewing it is a problem, they can grow to let it be a part of what makes them beautiful. 

Edited by Philomath
Problems with inserting WoB
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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

With the gemstones, we know that the hue seems to matter more than the rarity. Is that somehow tying in to the colors for Warbreaker, and how that stuff works?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yes, that is tying in. Color will be a recurring theme, much as metal will be a recurring theme, as you see different magic systems work. In this case, the color has an affect on the spren and getting a spren trapped in it.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

So just the color itself?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Yeah the color is the important part. When I was researching Stormlight, I determined that color had to be the point. Because a lot of the gemstones I'm using are molecularly identical.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

So that was the best way to differentiate?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

So this was the best way to differentiate. But I had already had this as part of the cosmere, that color and the way people perceive color and things like, that were part of it. But getting ten different gemstones that were molecularly different proved to be very difficult and not worth it. If you look, so many of them are just basically the same gemstone with a few impurities. Their crystalline structure is the same.

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