Search the Community

Good afternoon y'all, I wanted to make a discussion about a certain God Metal that I have been thinking about and I would love to hear ideas and theories as to what it could potentially do. To clarify, I am talking about the God Metal of Endowment, I haven't really seen many discussions relating to Endowment, so I wanted to make one of my own and see what crazy abilities could spurn up. My theory, probably not going to happen, but burning Endowments God Metal could potentially make them an awakener with a tremendous amount of breaths. I feel like the God Metal of Endowment could work similarly to Lerasium. But that is my theory at the moment, what are yours?

So many people assume the Cosmere symbol is a representation of the Shattering. But I was wondering, what if it is actually a symbol for Adonalsium's God Metal. I think it looks similar to the Scadrial metal symbols. I don't think it has ever appeared in-universe, so we don't know when it was actually made.

Hello, in my most recent rereading of the Mistborn series, there's something that's been bothering me. The overarching storyline of HOA was ruin trying to find where the atium was being hidden, but one thing I don't know is how he was supposed to access it. He knew where it was once the atium soldiers started burning it up, but apparently knowing where it was wasn't enough. He sent koloss after the atium, but what was supposed to happen after that? Were the koloss supposed to give it to ruin somehow? Was Marsh supposed to do something? I don't know the specifics of how a shard can interact with the physical realm and I think this answer could help me put some other things together too. This feels like something that would probably be answered in a WoB, but I'm not sure how I'd condense this into a search query, so any responses are appreciated.

I'm unsure of where we officially learned this, but I learned in Tress that the material dragonsteel comes from the scales of dragons. I didn't think much of it at the time, but then I started thinking about how there are essentially zero mythical metals besides the god metals. So considering that this elusive material is meant to be at the core of the plot to the Dragonsteel book, it is either regular metal that's been specifically invested, or it's god metal. Considering that God metal can manifest in a multitude of ways, I wouldn't consider it impossible if dragonsteel was secretly Adonalsium's metal. We've already seen spren manifest as metal and we know that nonhuman creatures in the physical can interact with the cognitive realm to a degree. Although interacting with splinters and the cognitive is typically exclusively Rosharan, I wouldn't be surprised if some really weird stuff was going on with the dragons considering we don't know a whole lot about, or at least I don't. That concludes my brief theory. If you see any holes in my logic or whatever feel free to say... I never know how to end these...

This is a theory that I've been coming back to for a bit now. I was thinking about how atium and its alloy have distinct properties in the metallic arts. I know all god metals shown in the series so far interact with the metallic arts, but only atium works the same as the 16 allomantic metals. That got me thinking, are there other god metals that act similarly to atium? Atium acts like a temporal metal, but both it and its alloy see into the future, which is the mark of the spiritual realm. I started thinking about these as the spiritual temporal metals, to fit with external and internal. This got me thinking, are there other god metals that could act like the spiritual component to other categories? Could the honor metal and its alloy make up a spiritual physical metal? If so, what kind of effect could it give off? Although I think this is an interesting line of thought, it does however, break the pattern of 16 pretty soundly. Despite the fact that I don't think this is that plausible, I like how Brandon's magic systems follow a set of strict rules so you can speculate possibilities like this, and I hope that sharing this idea can add to other speculations. That's all I have for my strange theory. I hope I was able to properly articulate it and that it gives you something to think about.

So I believe it has been stated repeatedly in The Stormlight Archive that the physical manifestations of Invested Slivers (i.e. spren and spren-ish beings) take the form of metal, for example Soulcasters or Spren-blades. Are these metals the God Metals of Honor/Cultivation/Odium? If so, what exactly does that entail---Radiant Spren are Invested by both Honor and Cultivation if I understand correctly, so are the blades some alloy of Honor-ium and Cultivation-ium? Is that similar or different from how Harmonium is an alloy of Atium and Lerasium? What about a corrupted spren like Glys? Would he be an alloy of Stormium, Lifeium, and Voidium (I think these are better names)?

So, with TLM out we have learned a bit more about godmetals. They have seemingly three properties in common Spectrographically they saturate all bands + additional band different for each metal which is 'out of charts'. They are heavily Invested (since they are Investiture). They cannot undergo phase transition using purely physical means (i.e. you possibly cannot melt them into liquid Investiture just via heating them up). Interestingly other physical properties seem to differ (e.g. explosiveness of Harmonium and it being soft, Trellium being brittle, Raysium conducting Investiture etc.) What is more interesting is that they have also unique properties, which to me seem to be possibly linked to Intent of the Shard Harmonium replicated ('harmonizes') with nearby Invested effects. Trellium (Bavadium) metal of Autonomy is repulsed by Investiture of other Intent (or at least Harmony, but I assume it generalizes). Raysium conducts Investiture, which I am not sure how it relates to Odium's Intent (though Voidlight enflames emotion, so possibly relation there). Finally, both Honorblades (made of Tanavastium) and Shardblades (made of alloy of Tanavastium) are nearly unbreakable (only Nightblood having caused damage). I propose that is a natural property of the metal, since it is metal of Shard with Intent of Oaths in the sense of binding things together, so having a God Metal that is supernaturally strongly bound makes sense. So proposal is that Tavanastium (and alloys) is metal far harder and stronger (in the sense of physical property) than any other god metal.

Science time! Like the alchemists of old it is time for us to delve into the secrets of metals and the divine. With lost metal out its time to put on my aluminum hat and scratch my understanding of investiture into the metal sheets of the wall. Examining Wax's experiment seems to reconfirm how a metal's properties are related to the shard it originates from. Harmonium: Also called ettmetal is a highly volatile substance. It exists in a delicate balance and mere interaction with water is sufficient to cause the largest man made explosions in scadrial's history. It is quite pliable as well and has a high boiling point. This is emblematic of a shard striving for balance on a knife's edge. Although destructive it is also quite resilient and flexible. Additionally it can fuel matalic arts when combined with the correct technology. Trellium(bavadinium): Is an extremely durable substance. Its melting point is very high, beyond even ettmetal, and its hardness barely below diamond. It is emblematic of a shard promoting individuality and when used in hemalurgy it can prevent intrusion from Harmony. It also reacts much more violently to resist foreign investiture then other metals. Stormlight: It might be surprising to place this on the list but its worth noting that this is a relatively common form of physical investiture found on roshar. It seems particularly good at bridging the different realms as per its intent in joining things together. Because of this it tends to be somewhat unstable and difficult to keep in one place. It desires to connect anything to anything else per the intent Honor. Lifelight: Cultivation's light is noted for its use in creating food. This may also explain its rarity as any that exists would be rapidly absorbed by surrounding lifeforms fulfilling Cultivation's intent to grow. Voidlight: By contrast to stormlgiht remains solid for long periods. In solid form raysium conducts investiture quite well. This may be a demonstration of its emptiness per Odium's intent. The two most important for this theory our old friends lerasium and atium are not widely available in present day scadrial. Both seemed to be pliable metals but what is truly intriguing about them might not be their properties but rather their distribution. The majority of lerasium was always distributed as widely as possible across the planet in the form of mists with comparitively little in the well as liquid or solid. This can potentially be seen as a type of behavior caused by Preservation's intent, the desire to save everyone and stop all change everywhere. Meanwhile atium is found almost exclusively in solid form. This can be seen as Ruin's intent to destroy things. When breaking things down its generally smarter to gather a critical mass of oxygenated material then just spray oxygen into the atmosphere. Now for the interesting part. Sazed claims to Kelseir that the lerasium is annihilated in the explosion. I'm thinking its actually not a lie but it is a bluff. Investiture cannot be destroyed. One can convert it of course and indeed that is part of what happens during the explosion but there is no reason for more lerasium to be destroyed then atium. It seems much more likely that an equal amount of both are consumed. Is it not possible the Lerasium attempts to follow its invested nature and fix things up in the aftermath of the explosion? The result seems fairly clean all thing considered with no known toxins generated. Additionally Wax absorbed a small amount of it at the time. The reason that no lerasium sticks around is because it is consumed by the environment itself. If intervention took place at the time of the explosion it may be possible to harvest it in small amounts. Its been a long time but I hope to hear from anyone who thinks this type of theory is interesting. I'd also like to hear about everyone else's ideas concerning godmetals.

What do you believe or wish to be the Ferruchemical, Allomantic and/or Hemalurgical effect of the unknown divine metals?

Hi all! I have never joined a forum and I might be doing this wrong. Forgive me if this is the wrong section to post this but I am desperate and clueless. I have for some time been trying to locate the symbol for Raysium (god metal for Odium). Please point me to the right place to look, as I desperately want Raysium as a tattoo. Thank you all in advance for the help! Daniel

We need to talk about the silver plating on Vin's earring! Somewhere between the moment Vin's mother drove this little bronze spike through Vin's sister into Vin's ear, and the moment we first see Vin in Book 1, this bronze earring became plated in "silver" (which must negate its Hemalurgic effects for reasons I'll explain) and then locked away inside of a box. Even ignoring the larger implications of Silver throughout the Cosmere, and isolating our attention only at Scadrial's magic system... We know that silver on Scadrial has no known Allomantic, Feruchemical, or (most importantly) Hemalurgic properties at all. If the earring were silver-plated before spiking through Vin's sister, then that silver would have nullified the spike's ability to behave as a hemalurgic spike and accept a hemalurgic charge. In contrast, if the earring was silver-plated after receiving a hemalurgic charge, then the silver would have blocked the earring's effects on the wearer (much like Nightblood's sheath blocks his power). If this bronze earring was plated in silver, then it's logical to infer that even if Vin wore it like that (fully silver-plated), then Ruin wouldn't have been able to reach her, nor would she have been able to tap into the extra seeker properties with which the spike was charged. Interestingly enough, that silver plating was notably wearing away throughout Vin's story. From Well of Ascension - Chapter 33: "Vin stood quietly. Absently, she pulled out her bronze earring—her mother’s earring—and worked it between her fingers, watching it reflect light. It had once been gilded with silver, but that had worn off in most places." From Hero of Ages – Chapter 54: "Silver. Useless, unburnable silver. Like lead, it was one of the metals that provided no Allomantic powers at all. “An unpopular metal indeed . . .” Yomen said, nodding to the side. A servant approached Vin, bearing something on a small platter. Her mother’s earring. It was a dull thing, Allomantically, made of bronze with some silver plating. Much of the silver had worn off years ago, and the brownish bronze showed through, making the earring look to be the cheap bauble it was. “Which is why,” Yomen continued, “I am so curious as to why you would bother with an ornament such as this. I have had it tested. Silver on the outside, bronze on the inside. Why those metals?" I figure that neither Reen nor Vin could've done this silver-plating to the bronze earring. They wouldn't have been concerned in the least with having it silver-plated while they were poor and had a hard enough time staying [relatively] safe and fed. I think someone who was cosmere-aware or, at the very least, was "Ruin-aware" was responsible for having the earring silver plated. I doubt Hoid would have done this, as well. My imagination says that he would have sooner destroyed or stolen the earring if he really wanted to interfere with Ruin's plans. Hoid wouldn't have preserved the earring so carefully. The fact that the earring was neutralized/silver-plated rather than destroyed... and the fact that it was placed in a box and that box was kept rather than disposed of... well, I would guess Preservation was behind this silver-plating. I think he did what he could to influence people and events around Vin to protect her while keeping in line with his own will to 'preserve' above all else. From Hero of Ages – Sazed's final Epigraph (just before the epilogue): "Vin was special. Preservation chose her from a very young age, as I have mentioned. I believe that he was grooming her to take his power... I believe that she must have drawn some of the mist into her when she was still a child, in those brief times when she wasn’t wearing the earring. Preservation had mostly gotten her to stop wearing it by the time Kelsier recruited her, though she put it back in for a moment before joining the crew. Then, she’d left it there at his suggestion." If the earring had been placed while Vin was an infant and left in her ear, then it's a safe assumption that Ruin would have had her entire lifetime to work his influence... if, of course, it hadn't been for the presumed efforts of Preservation to buy her as much time as he could. I asked Brandon Sanderson "Who was responsible for getting Vin's bronze earring plated in 'silver'?" and apparently that question was good enough to award me an RAFO card. :-) I will be framing it. Don't judge me. Who plated Vin's bronze earring in "silver"? When did they do it? Why? Is the plating on Vin's earring really silver (or just perceived to be Silver by the Scadrians)? ...is it the same metal as Nightblood's sheath? It seems to me that the silver plating on Vin's earring and Nightblood's famous "silver sheath" were essentially there to perform the same job. What do you think?

In The Well of Ascension we see Lerasium burned by Elend so that he becomes a Mistborn of extremely powerful Investiture. However, Brandon has said in his notes that this is simply a side effect of burning Lerasium, not the main effect. Now, I'm not sure if someone else made a topic on this already (I tried looking but couldn't find anything), but it seems fairly obvious to me what that function is. When burned, Lerasium should be able to be used in place of any allomantic metal reserve (i.e. I could burn Lerasium as a mistborn and, if I chose, get extra strength, speed, and balance as if I were burning very pure allomantic pewter). Here is my evidence... Lerasium is related to Preservation and is thus linked to Allomancy. Its opposite, Atium, is related to Ruin and Hemalurgy. So, if we see how Atium acts in Hemalurgy, it may give us a clue about how Lerasium acts in Allomancy. As a Hemalurgic spike, Atium steals any attribute/Investiture, so Lerasium in my mind should at likewise. Throughout the original Mistborn trilogy, Vin draws in the mists, the gaseous form of Lerasium, and burns them for super heightened Allomantic strength, such as when her Allomantic steel power can see the Lord Rulers bands even though they are heavily invested (and maybe pierce his skin? I don't remember...). However, toward the end of Hero of Ages, Vin draws the mists in her fight against Marsh and burns Lerasium in this way, gaining other allomantic powers by only burning the mists. I don't have a physical copy of the novel, so I can't quote directly from the book, but that is how I remember that scene happening. However, this brings up another question. If Atium and Lerasium both perform all functions within their respective systems, can Harmonium do the same within Feruchemy, storing and tapping any attribute (that can be stored and tapped through other metals)? Harmonium is ettmetal, so it may be difficult to keep a Harmonium metalmind from exploding, making this theory unlikely, but I believe it needed to be discussed. Again, I don't know if someone else came to this conclusion already, I assumed this was common knowledge until I could not find anything on it.

I was reading this theory Yata opened up a little while ago when I had an interesting thought. Halfway through voicing this thought as a reply to the thread, I realized that it was sort of a tangent from his discussion. So here we are at an entirely new theory. Where do the metallic arts come from? Sanderson has said that the ability to use metallic arts is part of the physical DNA of the inhabitants of Scadrial (which explains why it is hereditary). We know that magic systems spring up sort of as a natural result of shards and planets interacting... But Ruin and Preservation created Scadrial, so it is hard to say how much of the three metallic arts were intentional and how much was natural. Let us consider how god metals work. Right now, we know of three: Atium, god metal of Ruin. Lerasium, god metal of Preservation. Trellium, god metal of Trell. Atium follows the standard rules for any metal. It can be burned in allomancy by either a mistborn or an atium misting. Lerasium, however, can be burned in allomancy by anyone at all. Why can anyone burn this metal in particular? Maybe this is because lerasium is the metal of preservation and allomancy is the magic of preservation... What about mistings though? Is it possible for someone to be a lerasium misting, if anyone can burn it already? Maybe the genetic trait for being a lerasium misting is actually what makes people mistborn, since it likely results in a strong connection to lerasium? And what of trellium? Who can burn trellium? Presumably, a mistborn can burn trellium, since it looks like a mistborn can burn any metal (even non-allomantic metals, although it would probably kill them). Would there be trellium mistings though? Assuming lerasium is special in that anyone can burn it, trellium is probably something like atium, which means there would be trellium mistings. And yet, where would the trellium mistings come from? Surely there weren't always trellium mistings. For most of Scadrial's history, trellium didn't exist. Why would the human population on Scadrial possess the latent ability to burn a metal that did not yet exist, and may never exist? If the three metallic arts are intentional, that means Ruin and Preservation deliberately embedded the genetic potential for being a misting into the humans on Scadrial. This would imply that without shardic intervention, Scadrians would never produce a trellium misting. It wouldn't be in their genetics. But if the metallic arts happened more naturally, that means the genetic potential for being a misting could be more fluid. This would imply that as Trell invested in Scadrial, this may actually have created a trellium misting trait within the human population. Suddenly people would start naturally being born as trellium mistings in reaction to the fact that trell invested in Scadrial. These are some rather interesting questions I think. I personally believe that lerasium mistings are indeed actually mistborn, and that the Scadrian population will indeed start manifesting trellium mistings naturally. But this is more about the questions themselves than about my opinions on them. I open up the discussion to you all.

Question from a confused person. Did Paalm have one spike (the silver+red one), or two spikes in her (silver+red, and a Harmony spike)? If she just had one spike, did that spike just give her full Twinborn powers, then? Since she uses speed and steelpushes and so forth. Do we ever see her actually changing spikes by falling on them, like MeLaan mentioned?

This all comes from my friend, but he doesn't post here, so very little of this is my actual idea. We were just wondering if The Lord Ruler had the ability to worldhop. If anyone in Scadrial's history could, it would be him. I believe it's WoB that every Shardworld's arcana has at least one trick that allows for worldhopping. Scadrial has three arcana that we know of. The Lord Ruler was the unquestioned master of Allomancy and Feruchemy. He could use his feruchemy to power his allomancy; nicrosil speculation aside, we have no idea how he did that and no canon examples of anyone doing the same. He prolly knew more hemalurgy than anyone there's ever been on Scadrial. He had exclusive access to the god metals, one of them in enormous quantities. However Scadrian worldhopping happens, odds are very good that The Lord Ruler was at least theoretically capable of doing it. Then there's his Ascension. In that moment when he held Preservation's power, he could well have gained cosmeric knowledge. The way Sazed realized his Powers were once a part of something greater, Rashek could have realized there were other Powers out there, too. I realize it's all speculation. I just wonder if it's something The Lord Ruler was aware of.

So this idea came from this thread http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3563-the-origin-of-adonalsium-the-word/?hl=adoni#entry56890 but it branches a bit so I'm starting a unique thread. I think Adonalsium is not a person but a material, particularly God Metal. I realize this is highly speculative, but I think the idea is worth exploring. And I think it ties a lot of loose ends together. So first let's reference the thread mentioned earlier and run with the idea that the Adona in Adonalsium means lord or god. Then let's look at the last third of the word Adonalsium, ium. In the Mistborn trilogy we read of numerous materials, metals, ending with ium. To name them, there are Atium, Larasium, Chromium, Cadmium, and Malatium. Not to mention, scientifically, ium makes reference to metal. Combine the two and you have god-metal, or at least, god-material. Adonalsium, as a god material makes sense. If you were to combine all the Shards of Adonalsium together you would have the attributes of one very powerful/omnipotent tool. Also a material is easier to shatter than a being. And it's much easier to pick up and wield portions of a shattered object than those of a shattered being. Let's reference the the goals of Hoid, who seems interested in uniting the Shards (see the conversation about Adonalsium with Dalinar). And let's reference the Letter in the Way of Kings epigraph. In this letter Hoid is writing to a dragon and asking for help to stop Odium. From the tone of the letter the dragon doesn't seem interested in intervening. Why would Hoid ask a dragon for help, especially a dragon who is at ends with him? Could it be that a dragon or dragons forged Adonalsium. If one can create something, they also have the knowledge to destroy it. What if a dragon, or more likely dragons, formed Adonalsium. You could even call it dragon steel. But one of these dragons feared it was too powerful and shattered it. We know from a recent Q&A with Brandon that Adonalsium was shattered with intent. If the power was distributed more evenly it would prevent tyranny. So it was shattered and distributed to sixteen individuals on Yolen, who then spread out amongst the Cosmere to keep the power distributed. Yet the individual power of each shard was not foreseen. Alone, the shards were unbalanced. Look at the events on Scadrial. Or even worse in the case of Odium, which, on its own, would try to destroy all other shards. This is why Hoid is writing to the dragon. He is trying to persuade the dragon to change his mind. If Hoid can unite the remaining shards of Adonalsium, Odium can be overpowered and the shards can be reunited, hopefully returning balance to the Cosmere. My support for this is found in the last vision that Dalinar receives in The Way of Kings. In this last vision he is shown by god the impending doom of his planet. He is also shown stars in the sky disappearing, representing the work of Odium destroying shards throughout the Cosmere. He is told the only way to stop Odium is to "unite them." Dalinar thinks he is supposed to unite various peoples. I think what he is being told though, is that the only way to stop Odium is to unite the shards of Adonalsium. This is why Hoid asks Dalinar if he is familiar with Adonalsium. Some how Hoid knows of the visions that Dalinar has seen, and knows Adonalsium is at the heart of them. But Dalinar hasn't made the connection yet. So I realize this is out there, jumps around a lot, and assumes a lot, but I did my best to tie in a bunch of ideas that are floating around concerning Adonalsium and the Cosmere. Proceed to tear this theory apart

This theory is based off the Shardic Lens Theory. Restated briefly, the Power of Creation is a source of Light. Each of the 16 Shards is viewed as a Lens that can access this light and allow it to enter the Cosmere. When the Power passes through a Shard, it is distorted based on the Intent, creating 16 "colors" of Light. A human must have a piece of a Shard and use a physical Focus to access the Powers of Creation. One of my questions deals with the Power of a Shard and the Power of Creation. Are they the same thing? Could they be related? I am not sure, but for this theory I make an assumption that they are two different things. (The theory could also be reworked assuming they are the same, but subtle differences arise as a result) So assuming the Power of Creation is separate from the Shard itself, each Shard acts sort of like a Sun, radiating the Power of Creation into the Cosmere, but altering the Power in the process. That Light can be harnessed and used by any of the other Shards to accomplish their goals. I believe the metals of Scadrial form a link to one of the 16 Shards and allow access to one "color" of Light. Alloys may allow you to blend and combine various colors. This Light is then used as fuel. Under typical use, Allomancy would not change the total amount of Power that Preservation controls since the source of energy is the Power of Creation, filtered through the various Shards, then accessed through a Focus. You can also fuel Allomancy directly with the body of any Shard. We have seen that happen with the Well of Ascension, the Mists and Lerasium. Using these as fuel will directly access the Power of Preservation, temporarily dispersing his power and weakening the shard. The end effect of allomancy will be related in some way to the Intent that shaped the Power's color. Many of us have been puzzled by the correlation between Atium and Electrum. Used allomantically, they both reveal shadows of the future and have virtually the same effect. But electrum shows your own shadow while atium shows the shadows of others. I suggest that they are both directly related to the Intent of Ruin. Electrum is a physical focus that forms a link to Ruin, allowing access to black colored Light. Atium allows you to access Ruin's Power directly. Both forms of Power are shaped by the Intent of Ruin and will have similar effects when used allomantically. Expanding on this idea, could all of the metals have a corresponding shard? The only other God-Metal we know about is Lerasium, and it seems to be capable of altering a person's Identity to Attune them perfectly with Preservation. There is a feruchemical power that stores Identity. I suggest that Aluminium is the Metal that accesses white Light from Preservation. Used allomantically, aluminium alters the Identity of the other metals in the user, destroying them instantly. I suggest that a trained allomancer could control how Aluminum changes the metals instead of just destroying them.