Search the Community

EDIT: There are NO spoilers ahead for any book. So i have an idea: is it possible to create a black hole using the Feruchemical ability to store weight? First of all i am no physicist, and all my calculation my be incorrect, so feedback is appreciated. storing weight in iron is something a feruchemist do all the time and it's said that it changes his density when tapping the iron - not his strength though it affects it. and what is a black hole if not a really REALLY dense point in space? Could a skimmer store enough weight to use it all in one second and make himself so dense that even the light can't escape his gravitational force? there are standards to black holes - according to wikipedia - some are huge, some are even micro. Assuming a skimmer who is 1.80 meters and 80kg, is storing 99% of his weight, we could, after a bit more than a whopping quadrillion years (1,000,000,000,000,000) use all that weight in a second to make himself dense as a large black hole. But we don't really need a whole second isn't it? we can do it in half a second' or a tenth, or a planck second: the shortest time possible in the universe. This actually shortens the storing time to less than a second! That's not even considering compounding... Sanderson once said that increasing weight affects the Higgs field, which is essentially gravity. The only problem I see is that they will need to empty the reserves in the shortest time possible according to science, and by what i have read i don't see any indication to the speed of which you can tap into a metalmind. In conclusion, any skimmer can destroy Scadrial without breaking a sweat. If you want more calculations, or see something wrong please say so. Thank you for coming to my ted talk. TLDR; skimmer OP must nerf quick.

So, either something amazing happened or there’s a bit of a plot hole in The Bands of Mourning. Anyone else notice that, apparently, MeLaan’s weight changed when they all got into the little airship while escaping from the compound? She was behaving like a skimmer! If it’s not an oversight, then apparently the Kandra could use Feruchemy with Alec’s medallions. I know that Feruchemy is hereditary and the Kandra are Terrace, sort of, but they are drastically changed. Or no one caught it in editing.

I am very new to this community although not new to the works of Brandon Sanderson. I was listening to Shadows of Self yet again, and a thought came to me. A skimmer would have to be the hardest person to drown. They could always decrease their weight to that of air or lighter and float like an inflated bag. They would never drown, even if weighted down with mafia cement shoes. Since reading of when Sazed floated down into the Inquisitors' HQ with Marsh back in the first trilogy I have always had one hilarious thought about the skimming ability. It is that of someone completely naked slowly flying/floating around like a miniature blimp with a small handheld fan propelling them. I believe it would genuinely grant the ability of flight but a very hilarious and not too glamorous version of it. This flying idea was demonstrated by the flying machines in Bands of Mourning. I'm curious to know that if the skimming ability were present in a modern era with modern tech, could a lightweight jet pack of sorts be made for only skimmers could use? Or even a modern 4+ prop drone they could ride? I'm curious to know what others think of these ideas. If I'm late to the discussion regarding the ideas of skimmers and how their weightlessness could be used in such ways please direct me to the appropriate threads.