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So the obvious answer is the ability to burn specific metals or alloys to gain temporary powers. But I'm asking what IS it? Mistborn can burn metals to gain amazing powers like physical strength, but how? Cause later in the mistborn books we see that on Scadrial the links to the spiritual realm are metals, so much so that Scadrians (which aren't really humans, they were made after the shards were a thing) have tiny metal spikes in their bodies just naturally. Metal in Scadrial works much the same as stormlight works in Roshar (which brings up the question of whether a coinshot in Roshar would still push metal or would change to things infused with storm/voidlight but that's for another time). Anyway does that mean that allomancy is the act of digesting investiture? (It's unclear if it's a purely Preservation based power as burning Lersium grants allomancy or if scadrians' Ruin investment mixed with the burning grants the power). It could work in a way similar to the way Lift can turn food into stomlight (investiture) through the boon granted to her by Culivation. Anyway I'm rambling way too long and I'm sure I've missed some stuff but I wanna hear other people's theories.

Does anyone know how to decipher Scadrian? I recently found something that I really want to know what it says!

Where is the Elendel basin getting its electrical power from? Coal and oil comes from organic materials, pressure, heat, and time. Scadrial was made by Preservation and Ruin recently, geologically speaking. I guess the shards created the coal and oil when making the world but how scientifically minded are the Shards? They can see future paths to some extent, but from the actions of Ruin, and Odium, it seems like advanced scientific understanding isn't something they focus on (though Sazed does seem more inclined to this book learned approach).

In Scadrial books Shadesmar is one of Mists and in Roshar it is full of Spren and countless connections to the physical world rolled up in little spheres. Are these difference defined by the collectivve minds of the people or is it more defined by the Investiture/Shard in charge (Roshar was originally Adonalsium's world so the spheres and most of the spren are probably his and not specifically Honor, Cultivation, or Odium's). Is the only constant to Shadesmar the beyond. Is the inverse landscape a constant? How much can a Shard change the landscape. Brandon has said that Sel is a dangerous place in the Cognitive realm because of the Shattered shards power residing mainly in the cognitive realm so how far can the cognitive realm be twisted by Investiture. Perhaps there is a splinter of Ambition causing the cognitive realm to be twisted on threnody.

I've just read Secret History again and faced some questions. Here are some of them about the cognitive world on Scadrial. these are more guesses and ambiguities than theories, as well as some questions (which may definitely be flawed). I would gladly hear any missing points on these issues, and sorry if these seem foolish questions to you 1-When Kelsier was running towards the Ire in the cognitive realm, he faces Ruin which could not reach him past the shores and onto the ocean. why can't Ruin reach the Ocean Island? we say that a shard resides on a planet, not only a continent. Isn't he completely free of Leras' prison at the time? We could say the area might be out of the planet, but in this case there are plant life (the cognitive version) all over the place even after Kelsier gets out of Ruin's reach, which means Ocean on the other side. 2-After more traveling, Kelsier reaches a place with no plant life. There are no life in the depth of the oceans or it's somewhere near the planet's borders? I assumed that the Ire is somewhere in the space which is out a Ruin's reach. 3-If that's the case and Elantrians are somewhere in the space, so the surface of the planet and the void outside it must have complete integrity in time-space like in physical realm. But how do they breath? 4-Is there gravity on CR or Kelsier can't fly just because he expects planet to pull him down? 5-Is the "awful tearing sensation" the same as the sensation or just a coincidence? P.S: I don't know if these are relevant questions or they just raised because I'm completely wrong about the conception of the CR.

In chapter 12 of BoM, There is this lady who is dancing with Wax. She seems super curious about Wax's abilites, and whether his Skimmer abilities make him actually storing more mass, or just have the planet recognize him more. Could she be Jasnah? Her physical appearance matches. She also mentions the mortality rate on Scadrial as compared to other planets.

Alright so this is my first time doing this and I'm very excited and pls be gentle. Compounding with Allomancy and Feruchemy is basically done by investing a piece of metal (I guess replacing the investiture from Preservation with that of a Feruchemical charge) and then using the end positive nature of Allomancy to generate extra power from the 'new metal' right? If this is wrong, hopefully it's close enough for the theory to hold. This is nice because Feruchemy takes a bunch of preparation and storage to be useful. Now, as far as I can tell breath is somewhat limited by supply, and cost. You could theoretically get more than you could ever need but it would be expensive and generally a pain. Because of this, being able to make Breath would be neat. Enter the 9th Heightening: This handy dandy quote from the Coppermind states that when you've got enough breath you can put some of it inside steel (Probably other metals too, but I'd assume that steel is the only tested metal). Now, given how simple compounding is: Could a steel Misting of the 9th Heightening invest some steel with Breath and burn it? Assuming any Allomantic metal can be used in Greater Awakening, any Misting could have access to Breath Compounding. Now, given how costly it was to awaken Nightblood, it's possible that you'd spend more Breaths than you'd gain though this process (Psst here's a nice way to patch this hole if you don't want it to be used). There's also a WoB stating that awakening isn't easy for non-Nalthians, but through Hemalurgy or Lerasium I suppose this could be entirely avoided by making a Nalthian a Misting. Anyway I've said my part, and this lowly spren is tired from all this thinking. Would love to hear corrections, compliments on my magnificent genius/stupidity, insults, discussion, really anything.

Are we SURE it's Odium attacking Harmony at Scadrial? If Harmony had to divest himself of power to keep them away from Odium. He has admitted to being trapped and at odds with his dual natures in the final Letter in Oathbringer. I wonder what character he might choose as successor? Have you? Any thoughts?

There is a WoB from November 13, at the Oathbringer signing party, in which Brandon confirms that Nightblood's sheath is made of Aluminum. Brandon has also previously noted that Vasher (and I assume at least also shashara if not all the scholars) where on Roshar to study investiture, leading them to attempt to duplicate shardblades on Nalthis (resulting in Nightblood). He also noted separately (sorry for not having this WoB's linked) that Nightblood's sheath was present upon Nightblood's creation to serve its obviously necessary purpose (though he does make it sound like they aren't sure what will happen). However we can pretty obviously infer there, that the five scholars are aware of at least some properties of Aluminum for them to have used it as the metal to be sure they could put Nightblood inside if they needed to. Compounding this knowledge with the presence of Iyatil (who is, I believe, a confirmed southern Scadrian) on Roshar to prove that worldhopping between the planets is fairly conceivable, it seems to me to be fairly certain that the scholars would have also visited Scadrial on their trip and brought the aluminum back with them. Do we have any other confirmation that they went to other planets? Or do we only know for sure that Vasher at least has been to Roshar and Nalthis?

As I was perusing through Reddit, I found this this comment by /u/pervyfguy69 about abusing the magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy to create a Nightblood or Shardblade-like weapon. I thought that these fine forums, being the obviously more cosmereically (???) enlightened portion of the interwebs would like to take a gander at his thought experiment. Also please note that there are some mild spoilers for OB within that comment, and the thread. (Hopefully) you have been warned. Here's an edited version without these mild spoilers, for those still not inished the book: Also importantly: according to Brandon himself this "shoots past RAFO territory so far, it can't even see the line from where it's now standing". Thoughts?

So, I am working on an unofficial recipe book containing fan-favourite meals from Mistborn, and other books. To make the best dishes I can, I need to choose those that seem appetizing to most readers, and gather all I can about them. Are they skaa? Noble? Elandel high society? Who described them, as what? And so on. What do *you* want to eat, and what do you remember about it? Descriptions, reactions, anything. Quotes greatly appreciated! Also if possible, I would love your support on Patreon. So far, I have only the baywraps requested.

Ok, so, for those of you who are unaware, nicrosil stores investiture. This is a poorly understood branch of feruchemy, and at first may seem about as useless as allomantic cadmium. However, it allows you to do some really weird stuff. So here's my theory: If a nicrosil ferring (or full feruchemist) were to become a surgebinder, they could use the stored up investiture in place of stormlight. Of course it might not be nearly enough (this is a very distinct possibility), which could be remedied by A: Storing up huge amounts of investiture, or B: Being a Nicrosil compounder (just get a bit o' the old nicrosil-lerasium alloy). It might also not work that way/not be the right type of investiture (which I very much doubt). However, if it did work, imagine the potential! Surgebinder-Nicroferrings could go anywhere in the Cosmere! Tell me if you think this theory is possible, and, if it is, what you'd do if you were a surgebinder (choose an order)/nicrosil compounder.

*Clears throat*, Please excuse, but I have to share... In Soviet Scadrial, Metal Powers YOU!

I just realized, after reading the thread about Miles' death and the RAFO of whether it was a death rattle, that Odium may have jumped to Scadrial and Harmony is holding him back. Wax's conversation with Harmony and the mention of the red miasma sounds like Trell, and is either Taln's Scar attempting to expand... or Odium. Also, that could be a suitable ending for Stormlight 5, because it's the *Final* Desolation, before Odium leaves Roshar for good (evil, I mean). The back 5 would be about trying to unSplinter Honor. I hope this topic doesn't end up like my "Harm mores" theory which was disproven explicitly in the text itself.

Why are there no new kandra being created in Scadrials second age? (I am explicitly not talking about the trell version.) I can think of 4 possibilities, which all have some interesting implications: 1 Moral prohibition. Harmony or the kandra themselves are aggressively not cool with making more blessings. 2 Lack of knowledge. The process of making blessings is tricky in some way, and Harmony has decided not to share the method. 3 Lack of juveniles. The mist wraiths are gone and the living kandra do not know how to do, or are incapable of, the biological side of reproduction. 4 This entire question is wrong. There are new kandra being made and we do not know about it yet. Comments in shadows of self make me think it is primarily the first, but there are enough ways around that that I wonder if the others also come in to play. My personal favorite hypothetical plot involves a radical branch of the path deciding that there is no better way to end their lives than giving themselves to create a new faceless immortal. It has all sorts of fun implications. From members choosing the person with whom to blend their soul, to the new kandra receiving the bones of their "parents" To questions about inheriting personality or other traits. Any other theories?

So, from the Oathbringer prologue, we have some new information. Specifically, we now know what the motivations of each of the three men trying to "unite them" might be (based on the instructions obtained from the Almighty's vision-diary). Gavilar & Dalinar each received the visions from the Stormfather, and Taravangian heard about the visions from Gavilar. We are directly told that Gavilar intended to "unite them" with a threat of danger. We can infer that Dalinar is determined to "unite them" through common purpose & a sense of honor/duty. We can also infer that Taravangian is attempting to "unite them" with deception, political conquest, and esoteric methods (e.g. death rattles, Nightwatcher-granted super intellect, manipulating a truthless) Obviously, Dalinar is the only one of the three who is going about his efforts at unification in a manner consistent with the first oath of the Knights Radiant. However, my thoughts go from this observation to the secret societies. We have the Diagram society, the Sons of Honor, and the Ghostbloods. Of those three groups, two are represented in this group of men (Gavilar → Sons of Honor & Taravangian → the Diagram society). We also have two of the three shards whose power influenced the formation of two of the societies (Honor → Sons of Honor & Cultivation → the Diagram society). So, where do you all think the Ghostbloods fit into all of this? Acknowledging that it's pure conjecture, likely coincidental, and that correlation does not equal causation; is there any chance the Ghostbloods have a connection to Odium? Wild Cosmere theory: The Ghostbloods do a lot of world-hopping. If the Ghostbloods are connected to Odium, do you think there is a chance that Kelsier might have created a link between Roshar and the Southern Scadrians via Iyatil? What about the possibility that a chance encounter between Kelsier & Odium (or a more mundane connection via the Ghostbloods) is influencing the "other god" goings-on on Scadrial in the Wax & Wayne era?

Hi guys. I have some really deep mistborn questions and im sure you guys do to si i decided to make a dep mistborn Q&A thread. Feel free to ask questions and answer questions but please only deep good quality questions. Thanks

It has become clear that Harmony will become a large player in the Cosmere, and could actually be tied to the eventual fate of the 16 Shards, or what is left of them. It's good to reflect on just what Harmony is and how little we actually know about his motivations, capabilities, or the eventual role that he will play. He is already under attack, and this could only be the beginning. Here is the most recent "Letters from the Cosmere" where Elsric defines what Harmony is and explains his connection to the Shard: Transcript: My Dearest Kassar, By the time you get this, I will be gone. Before we set out for Scadrial I wish to establish two new mine sites. In order to maintain our estate while we are away I plan to reveal the other locations so that the company can continue to grow. I plan to be back within the month when we will depart. Our last conversation has been on my mind as of late. I feel that my inability to speak earlier was a disservice. I am not sure I can share all that I need to tell you. Perhaps after you have read these words I will have mustered the courage necessary to share my inner most turmoil’s. A lot happened to me on Scadrial, and I must admit I at nervous at the realization that we will soon be returning to that place. I fear you will feel lesser of me. I do not want to cast a shadow over us during this trip, but it is time I told you the truth. For years now I have been in the service of a being known as Harmony, a man who took up the power of a God and saved my life. Harmony is a kind of god, much like the beings of Cultivation and Odium. In fact, these three all are fragments of a far older power the came before them. While each piece behaves differently and independently, their power all came from Adonalsium. Harmony is unique, as far as I know, because he is a more recent wielder of Shardic power. More interestingly he is the combination of two formally separated and opposing powers. Ruin and Preservation were a shard pair that founded Scadrial. They worked together to create the life and humanity that lived on the planet. In the end however they were opposed to each other’s Intent which inevitable led to a preverbal deadlock conflict. The planet and the people who lived there were nearly the casualties of this conflict which was only resolved when the Shard bearer of Preservation purposefully ignored her intent and destroyed the mind of Ruin while destroying her own mind. The Hero of Ages, Preservations great gamble, then reached out and took hold of both Ruin and Preservation. I was there that day, watching as the world burned and thousands died. Scadrial was already a brutal and desolate place, and during those final years it was little more than a husk too hostel to live on. Ash choked the ground and the sun baked the planet from above. It was a kind of Desolation, orchestrated by Ruin as he sought to fulfill his driving purpose to break down the Cosmere piece by piece. Even from the Cognitive Realm, the destruction was very real. I had resigned myself to my fate. And then there he was, like a pillar of light that enveloped the planet in an embrace. Harmony shaped the world, returning it to what it had once been. The land was molded and shaped like clay. The three realms seemed to melt together, and suddenly I was standing on a land unrecognizable. He was there with me through it all. Somehow he knew who I was and why I was there. Even though he was creating a new world, he had the time for me. Well, I imagine his existence was not bound by physical location, at least not as we understand it. When I left that world, I assumed that would be the end. Apparently, Harmony kept an eye on me because when he wanted more information, they quickly sought me out. Harmony has servants who he uses to keep tabs on his world and to reach out to others. These are the Kandra, shapeshifters who take the forms of men by using their bones. They are immortal, as far as I know, and can receive direct instruction from Harmony. In fact, the man who stopped by the mansion last year was one such being. That was when I received the call to return to Scadrial. I am not sure why Harmony contacted me to begin with, when he has servants who can spy on the rest of the Cosmere for him, but perhaps it has something to do with the nature of Harmony. It is easy to think that Harmony is simply both Preservation and Ruin, much like how I have a right arm and a left arm that are similar, yet opposites working together. But if my studies into the nature of Shards is correct, then Harmony is actually something else. The Shards are no longer separate powers, but one. They have blended into a new alloy to create something new. This means that Harmony has the abilities and understandings of both Ruin and Preservation, and yet he has his own powers and influences that are independent of the powers from which he is derived. He also is somewhat of a powerhouse, wielding twice as much raw power and energy as the other shards that have been documented. From here we can see the potential orgin of the current conflict. Odium proved to be a vicious and heartless Shard. Granted the mind of the being who took up the shard must be practically obliterated by the Intent of Hatred. If you trace the macro events in the Cosmere, it becomes clear that Odium set his sights on dominating the Cosmere by eliminating those with the power to challenge him. I would be surprised if Harmony is not the manifestation of everything Odium fears. Harmony is most likely the most powerful being in the Cosmere. It is not surprising to hear that things are not all well back on Scadrial. Before the Kandra found us here on Nalthis, I hadn’t heard from them for years already. Considering how often they had been checking in up till that point, I had started wondering if something had happened. Before we were contacted, I had already resigned myself to return to Scadrial. It seems that something has changed and Harmony is under threat by some unknown power. Naturally, the Kandra are worried, and it turns out that I have had the most experience out in the Cosmere with other Shards. They have requested that I make my report and attempt to aid in their investigation. Considering what we have just survived, I feel that we cannot ignore this plea. It is clear to me that the mishandled wielding of godly power can cause untold levels of death an destruction. It is infuriating to see that intelligent beings took up such power for themselves and then turn it against each other and the people of these worlds. Harmony is perhaps the best there is of the Shard holders. His very nature is restraint and balance, and is the only power in the Cosmere I feel I can truly rely upon. Despite my growing mistrust of these Shards, I will not abandon Scadrial to be destroyed yet again. The things I saw over those last years of the old Scadrial… left me scared and broken. If my knowledge can help prevent that from happening again… well… it’s worth the effort. If there is to be a grand future to the Cosmere, Harmony is sure to be a focal point of what will come. Given our potential limitless lifespans, I wonder if we will see the end of the Shard holders. I am not sure what would be best for the Cosmere as a whole, but I am content to work with the servants of the one Shard I feel we can trust. I will do my best to prepare you for our integration with the Skadrian people. Hopefully, we can blend in a little better than I did on Roshar. Until we speak again, Elsric

Would a twin born that is able to compound Tin and who stores scent in a tin mind, when burning that tin mind, would only his sense of scent be heightened beyond normal allomancy or would all of the senses be compounded?

So I've seen a lot of people here saying that the reason the tables of metals are so different in Era 1 and Era 2 is because Atium is a godmetal and doesn't count as one of the regular sixteen. But in HoA, 1/16 of the people with mist-sickness become Atium mistings. If Atium really counted differently, then either none of them should have been Atium mistings, or 1/18 of them should have been, for regular metlas + both godmetals. Because if Atium was one of the original sixteen, then so should have Lerasium. (I can't believe I signed up here mostly because this was nagging at me, then remembered to post all my Cosmere questions except this one).

So we all know that Mistborn Era 4 Scadrial has become a space faring civilisation, and that in Sixth of the Dusk, there is at least one civilisation that has reached this status. Given the sheer versatility of the investiture systems, it is pretty likely that the aliens are in fact Scadrians. That opens up so many questions, but I would like to focus on one specifically: how did they do it? As mentioned before, it is Scadrials magic systems which probably made them the first space civilisation. I believe that it is a combination of Cadmium, Bendalloy, Ettmetal, and Medallions which have allowed them to enter the space frontier. Bendalloy makes speed bubbles, so if you attach one to a spaceship, the math on the wiki page says you would compress 2 minutes of the ship moving at full speed into 15 seconds of actual travel time. The problem with this is that people inside the spaceship will still age, as it is time which is being manipulated. That means that while the spaceship would travel FTL relative to the cosmere, inside the bubble, people would age normally. Essentially, it unpractical space travel and very limited. BUT, if you also create a smaller cadmium bubble around the structure of the ship ( a C.bubble within a B.bubble), we know from this WoB that the effects will cancel out: This means that the crew wouldn't be trapped inside the speed speed bubble, and so will experience time normally. However, to make this technology even more efficient, the Scadrians would put up ANOTHER cadmium bubble within the first cadmium bubble (C.bubble within C.bubble within B.bubble). This would allow them to travel FTL and not feel the time effects at all! Essentially, they would be able to get anywhere in no time. I do believe that Ettmetal will be used in the propulsion of the spacecraft, probably through some nuclear propulsion technology. This is what would take the spacecraft to such high speeds. I don't really know how to explain all the other uses, so here's @hwiles comment pulled from here: As for the medallions their benefits are endless: from breath, to healing, to warmth, to weight (which will probably be useful combined with pushing and pulling in space) and the various other technological impacts. NOTE: I just found out from the coppermind that time bubbles in fact compound if used together. This is crazy, and makes FTL travel much, much easier. A normal speed bubble speeds up time by a factor of 8. Compound this with 10 bubbles and you would be travelling insanely fast. WoB is unclear to me, not sure if will double (8x2) or multiply (8x8). We have no information on Cadmiums factor of change, but we can assume that it will be the same as they cancel, and that it'll also compound. Basically, you can use primer cubes each powered by Bendalloy and Cadmium, structured in specific layers. All the Bendalloy bubbles would need to be outside, and you would need about double the amount of Cadmium bubbles to counteract the Bendalloy bubbles and still create their own time-slowing bubbles. What do you guys think? Any other technology which would make FTL travel feasible or easier for Scadrians? (This is my first theory, so there might be gaps in knowledge. Feel free to point them out).

Crazy theory but... So according to Arcanum Unbounded there was some fight on Threnody between Odium and Autonomy and we know that shades are cognitive shadows. And in Mistborn: Secret History Nazh mentioned that to became a shadow there are some requirements and traditions and what if Nazh is from pre-Evil Threnody and they are creating shades on purpose, to become sort of ascended or immortal but fight between Shards twisted them into shades. On Roshar influence of Odium is connected to red eyes and on Thenody if shades are enraged their eyes turn red so what if it means they are influenced by Odium in that moment and they attack. And in Bands of mourning Epilogue there is Faceless Immortal with red eyes that could also mean it is not kandra but cognitive shadow from Threnody under influence of Odium that Ire in Mistborn: Secret History were afraid of?

I'm going to preface this by apologizing if this topic has been discussed before. I don't have a ton of time to read through all of the 17th Shard Forum so if it has been previously discussed, please direct me to the proper page (thanks in advance). I've been re-reading through Edgedancer and a thought occurred to me... Lift's ability to metabolize food into Stormlight seems oddly similar to Misting's and Mistborn's abilities to do the same with metal on Scadrial. We obviously know Worldhopping is possible and that all powers in the Cosmere are linked together somehow, but I still don't believe we have a clear idea about how powers translate from one world to the next. Of the worldhoppers that I'm aware of, none have shown their powers on more than one planet. Some haven't even shown their powers at all (other than the ability to worldhop). So, is it possible (or even probable) that Lift is originally from Scadrial, born with the powers of a Misting/Mistborn? It would explain why she needs to ingest something in order to gain Stormlight (I think metal would be a poison to anyone not on Scadrial which would explain why she needs food and not metal for Stormlight). We know almost nothing about Lift's past and where some comes from. If any of this is true, I'd also believe she was brought to Roshar at a very young age (before she realized she had Misting/Mistborn powers on Scadrial). This could explain why she's never had thoughts about worldhopping or another planet. My only question then would be, who brought her and why? I don't believe Lift would have worldhopped herself (otherwise I think that ability would have at least been hinted at by now). So what do you think? Does my theory hold any weight? Am I crazy for not thinking that Lift is originally from Roshar? Is there something in the text that I have missed which would point me to an answer? (I'm only on chapter 4 of my re-read and I don't remember all the details from my first time through). Curious to know your thoughts!

This is a continuation of a discussion from this thread, as it got too far off the original topic. Source But then there is also this, which implies that he somehow could take them both on himself, at least for a little while. I am having difficulty finding it, but I swear that I read it somewhere. Give me a little while longer, and I may find it. This was back when the idea was that the haze was a representation of Harmony keeping something out, not that it was what he was keeping out. The piece of Ruin was the extra power bringing Harmony out of Balance since Preservation put more of his energy into humanity. Sazed needed a use for that destructive power to keep himself in harmony, so it was a logical idea to use it as defense against incursion. I didn't mean to imply that the piece of Ruin was the bad guy, so I apologize for any misunderstanding. Honor was splintered moderately late into that 4500 year timeframe, if we include the time before the desolations stopped and the 2-2.5 millennia until the Recreance. Also, per Brandon, he "went after Ambition first, but didn’t find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion." Let's continue. Anyone else, feel free to join in.