The First Fifteen Vials of Waxillium Ladrian

[+robardin]

In the end, we discover that the sixteenth vial in the set given to Wax by Harmony, the one marked with the red X, contained the suspiciously uniquely produced "lerasium dust" along with some of all sixteen metals, that enabled Wayne to Mistborn Up and then to duralumin-Push his large supply of bendalloy to such an extreme that he could outspeed electricity (which noticably also blinded his normal vision to outside his bubble, as it would be light-based, but Steelsight still worked).

Wax had also been told to use the other, non-red-X vials in preference to his normal ones, but we never really see why (unless they were aluminum-sided vials?).

So what did they have in them? All the sixteen metals but NOT lerasium, just in case Wax had already been made Mistborn by inhaling the dust (which apparently, he hadn't been)?

(And don't say "maybe he just didn't notice he had new/more metals to access because he never thought about it", he's had "expanded access" to Allomantic metals already, and would know what it'd be like to be able to burn iron, pewter, tin, etc., as he did it with the Bands.)

Because otherwise, where did Wax get the duralumin to Super-Push with Wayne to reach the bombship? Not off of the corpse of the not-Wax they harvested the spike for A-duralumin from (along with adding A-pewter to Wax, and of course A-steel to make Wayne a Coinshot), because he was shown to have been swigging all his duralumin+steel from an aluminum flask instead of carrying multiple vials, a vanity that Wayne used to kill him.

 

[BTW, my post's title is a pun on the title of a completely unrelated book but one I'd highly recommend, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.]

Edited November 16, 2022 by robardin

[Isilel]

Maybe the flask did fall close enough that they found it? Because why would Wax have thought that he had some in his vials, but not realized what it meant? 

I am also not sure that his familiarity with how super-charged Bands felt would have led him to detect his new extremely weak powers, if he has them.

OTOH, didn't he still have his Pathian earring in on the ship, which may be a weak A-pewter spike? 

[NameIess]

I think Wax was made a Mistborn by the Lerasium, but his dose was just so small that he's too weak to really notice the difference, even with his previous experience with the Bands.

[Wadders]

I was really wondering why Wax never questioned why he would be given different metal vials. I'm suprised he did not immediately ask harmony what was special about those vials.

[Karger]

I agree with @Nameless.  Its reminiscent of how Vin was burning minuscule amounts of different metals before she knew about her powers.  Instead we have kind of the opposite.  Wax sort of is a Mistborn but he is so weak that the burning is unconscious.  As to why Harmony mixed the lerasium with other metals.  This is just a guess

38 minutes ago, robardin said:

Wax had also been told to use the other, non-red-X vials in preference to his normal ones, but we never really see why (unless they were aluminum-sided vials?).

So what did they have in them? All the sixteen metals but NOT lerasium, just in case Wax had already been made Mistborn by inhaling the dust (which apparently, he hadn't been)?

I'm thinking they contained minuscule quantities of lerasium alloys of different metals.  This would be more efficient for Harmony given the minimal Lerasium he is working with as well as help prevent any full mistborn from showing up without an emergency.  If it was just lerasium-steel then it would have just improved Wax's coinshot abilities without doing much of anything else.  He might not even have noticed(although given the purity of investiture involved it may also have helped keep him alive kind of like a passive constitution buff).

[StanLemon]

I also think that Wax is a Mistborn. Just a weak one. He seems to be using Tin near the end of the book to see the ship through the Mist for example.

[Storyspren]

Okay I don't think he is EXACTLY a Mistborn. I think something weird happened.

Soon afterwards from his perspective he thinks there isn't any Mist. But I think he just can't see it from unconscious tin burning.

That would be weird. I would think that unconscious tin burning would just sharpen things a bit. 
 

Maybe he is using the powers a bit without even burning metal.

[HavingTheHasHoidAPurpose?]

 

12 hours ago, robardin said:

Wax had also been told to use the other, non-red-X vials in preference to his normal ones, but we never really see why (unless they were aluminum-sided vials?).

Basically I think yes the 15 vials had all 16 normal metals. Thats where wax got the duralumin he used to jump. 

Odd that He learned he had duralumin reserves, but still had to have harmony explain that the first 15 vials had extra metals in them. 

Theres also a notable time jump, as we dont see wax and wayne prepare to go after the warship, including stealing spikes. Wayne probably could recall where he threw the flask, and have wax fetch it.

[Honorless]

I see what you did there

Oh you explained the title in the undertext

(seconding the recommendation for the First Fifteen Lives of Harry August)

(also, now there's nothing for me to read till Crystal Awakening releases at the end of the month, help)

(good god, it's like an addiction problem)

Edited November 17, 2022 by Honorless

[Ciridae]

I agree that Wax is a baby-mistborn.

When he was falling after not-Wax leached him, he was reaching for a vial in the air that then snapped into his hand. That sounded like iron to me. I can't remember, does leeching drain everything, or only metals you're actively burning at the time? If it drains everything, I guess it would have just been a lucky catch.

At some point he punches someone and is surprised how little it hurts his hand, that sounds like pewter.

And you guys already mentioned him being able to see through the mists with tin

There are probably other examples, could be fun to see if we can find him using emotional allomancy somewhere. Maybe when he's trying to cheer up Wayne at one point?

About Wax using duralumin, didn't Wayne pickpocket the flask off of not-Wax? They knew there was duralumin in there.

[StormingTexan]

I also think he is a weak Mistborn. Another example is the blue line he see without burning steel. I think he sees them because or iron instead of steal. Drinking water commonly has trace amounts of iron in it and he may have inhaled some from the explosion. I think a lot of what we see is the subconscious metal burning like what Vin did. I also agree with others that the vials contained all metals (except Lerasium). 

 

Side note. Why did Wax never think of using aluminum vials? It seems pretty obvious once we saw Not-Wax use the aluminum flask. It is obviously not a money or rarity issue. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by StormingTexan

[NameIess]

Wax also burned Pewter after Wayne blew up the ship, before Hoid saved him.

[The Cosmere Unaware]

Wax is certainly Mistborn, he was effectively confirmed to be burning pewter in the water and there were numerous events previously where he must've unconsciously burned another metal. Tin to pierce the mists, iron to attract the vial, etc.

Agree that the first 15 vials were just prepared with all allomantically relevant metals.

 

[+robardin]

10 minutes ago, The Cosmere Unaware said:

Wax is certainly Mistborn, he was effectively confirmed to be burning pewter in the water and there were numerous events previously where he must've unconsciously burned another metal. Tin to pierce the mists, iron to attract the vial, etc.

Agree that the first 15 vials were just prepared with all allomantically relevant metals.

Well, he also harvested a spike for A-pewter from the not-Wax, same as how he got the spike for A-duralumin and Wayne for A-steel.

Harmony later says right out “Wax is a Pewterarm now”, but also says he didn’t know if inhaling the possibly lerasium dust had enough in it to have an effect (which He is apparently very willing to lie about). So we will never know, as there won’t be any more Wax/Wayne stories, unless we get side stories or Era 3 flashbacks about the rest of Wax’s life (or if he becomes some kind of semi-immortal worldhopper type).

[The Cosmere Unaware]

1 hour ago, robardin said:

Well, he also harvested a spike for A-pewter from the not-Wax, same as how he got the spike for A-duralumin and Wayne for A-steel.

Did he? The spike reveal only mentions one spike. Unless the pewter spike was mentioned elsewhere and I missed it.

"Dawnshot flung wide his mistcoat, revealing what had been obscured before. A large metal spike potruding from his lower chest, where it had been pounded right through his clothing to pierce him directly between two ribs."
-Chapter 69 (Nice)

Edited November 17, 2022 by The Cosmere Unaware

[+robardin]

29 minutes ago, The Cosmere Unaware said:

Did he? The spike reveal only mentions one spike. Unless the pewter spike was mentioned elsewhere and I missed it.

"Dawnshot flung wide his mistcoat, revealing what had been obscured before. A large metal spike potruding from his lower chest, where it had been pounded right through his clothing to pierce him directly between two ribs."
-Chapter 69 (Nice)

It is, I think, intentionally left a gray area.

We had Wax earlier thinking the not-Wax he fought was a man with A-steel, A-duralumin, and A-pewter.

We then see Wax and Wayne wondering how to reach the bombship in time, and then looking down at his corpse.

We then see that Wax has a spike for duralumin (explaining how they reached the bombship, with DRAMATIC MISTCOAT REVEAL!), and that Wayne took the spike for A-steel to become a Coinshot as well.

And then after all that, Harmony telling Wayne straight up that "Wax has pewter now, so as long as he burns the metals in those other vials I gave him [which must contain pewter, and apparently duralumin, and who knows what else - probably all non-lerasium metals], he should survive the blast".

This, just after saying he "wasn't sure" if Wax had inhaled enough lerasium to have an effect (plus, he'd have to find and burn it, as Wayne similarly drank the red-X vial and didn't notice anything until Harmony reminded him).

So one obvious answer is: Harmony is not sure Wax is a Mistborn now, but is 100% sure Wax can burn pewter thanks to the third and last spike from not-Wax, because why would they harvest just two out of his three spikes?

The other obvious answer is: Harmony was lying - as we see him do repeatedly - about what he knows, isn't "sure" about, or what in fact happened to/with, lerasium, atium, and the explosion residue.

And really, both could be true. Wax COULD "have pewter" from becoming micro-Mistborn, and ALSO have pewter from that third spike.

Edited November 17, 2022 by robardin

[Frustration]

I'm of the opinion that the Lerasium Wax accidentally inhaled was tainted with steel from the box.

[The Cosmere Unaware]

11 minutes ago, robardin said:

It is, I think, intentionally left a gray area.

Perhaps.

It would just be a rather odd portrayal choice from Brandon to highlight a singular spike like that if there were more.
Wax later also isn't sure what the warm sensation in the water is, he isn't certain he's burning pewter. If he had spiked himself that way he would know what he was doing, no?

"As the water grew more choppy Wax had to struggle harder, he forced through pain grief and fatigue to keep himself, barely, afloat. He burned his steel, then... something else. Something deep which that kept him warm."
-Chapter 72

I'm leaning rather heavily towards him actually having inhaled some Lerasium dust between all the circumstantial evidence, the single spike reveal and Wax not knowing he was burning pewter..

[+robardin]

1 hour ago, The Cosmere Unaware said:

Perhaps.

It would just be a rather odd portrayal choice from Brandon to highlight a singular spike like that if there were more.
Wax later also isn't sure what the warm sensation in the water is, he isn't certain he's burning pewter. If he had spiked himself that way he would know what he was doing, no?

"As the water grew more choppy Wax had to struggle harder, he forced through pain grief and fatigue to keep himself, barely, afloat. He burned his steel, then... something else. Something deep which that kept him warm."
-Chapter 72

I'm leaning rather heavily towards him actually having inhaled some Lerasium dust between all the circumstantial evidence, the single spike reveal and Wax not knowing he was burning pewter..

And yet, surely Wax had burned pewter while holding the Bands, so wouldn't he know (not wonder) what it feels like to burn it? Maybe not?

It could also have been Harmony directly fueling Allomancy (as Vin had done with Elend) as part of his promise to Wayne to "do what I can" to make sure Wax survived the explosion.

[StormingTexan]

2 hours ago, robardin said:

So one obvious answer is: Harmony is not sure Wax is a Mistborn now, but is 100% sure Wax can burn pewter thanks to the third and last spike from not-Wax, because why would they harvest just two out of his three spikes?

Pretty sure he has just one spike. The before mentioned scene and in the last epilogue. Bolding by me.  

Quote

 

Wax felt at his abdomen, where he bore his spike. Though he’d been assured being called “brother” by the likes of the kandra and Death didn’t mean he was immortal, it did make him uncomfortable. He’d joined the ranks of an extremely disturbing group. The spiked. “I’ve considered removing it,” Wax said.

Sanderson, Brandon. The Lost Metal (The Mistborn Saga) (pp. 498-499). Tor Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

 

 

[Requiem17]

I think this conversation is missing that Wax's Pathian earring is very likely giving him pewter powers. There were other theories out there about this in previous books, and it's reasonable to assume that Sazed is just giving the reader confirmation finally that the earrings he keeps giving Wax are a Pewter Hemalurgic spike. 

That's not to say I don't think Wax could be a micro-Mistborn or something, I just really don't think he took the not-Wax pewter spike. 

[damien]

After Harmony said that Wax could now burn Pewter I had assumed that the first vials had included Steel, Pewter, and Lerasium alloyed with Pewter to make him a pewter misting also. It is known that a misting can be created by combining Lerasium with the metal the misting would be able to burn. I see no reason a person can not be granted to be a multiple misting, it just probably never happened before because why do that if you have Lerasium and can be a full mistborn.

But in this case Harmony did not want the existence of Lerasium to be known. So he secretly granted Wax the ability to burn pewter which he probably did subconsciously similar to Vin before she knew what she was doing. This would just help give him the power to keep going during this mission.

[IndigoAjah]

I like the implication that what Wax inhaled was Lerasium alloy from various metals, making him multiple Mistings but not a true Mistborn.

 

We've been told that Lerasium alloyed with another allomantic metal makes you a Misting in said metal and I can't see why we would have that confirmed if it never became relevant and I can't see any time it is more likely to be relevant: nobody is going to INTENTIONALLY make a Lerasium alloy that is less useful than pure Lerasium, so the way it was made with an uncontrolled explosion is the best mechanism for that occuring that I can imagine, and it fits into Saze telling (whilst omitting the fact that Wax did make some pure Lerasium that Wayne burned) Kel about the Lerasium being used up in the explosion. That doesn't really make sense if the Atium isn't, tbough obviously God Metals could act oddly, but if it were alloyed...

 

The safe box is described as Aluminium and Steel, and so those seem the most likely to be alloyed, it seems almost certain that Iron, Tin and Pewter, very common metals, could be present in the box. 

[Isilel]

9 hours ago, IndigoAjah said:

nobody is going to INTENTIONALLY make a Lerasium alloy that is less useful than pure Lerasium, 

They would if they needed or wanted to make many allomancers instead of one super-allomancer. Or, having little lerasium, wanted a strong misting instead of a very weak Mistborn.

 I used to think that this is how Kelsier made the initial group of SoScad Metalborn required for the medallion production, with ferrings being made with lerasium-atium-base allomantic metal alloy, but obviously this can no longer be the case. 

Concerning the lab explosion producing lerasium alloys, this is a very interesting and plausible idea! Though if so, this still potentially might have given Wax all metals except for cadmium, bendalloy and nicrosil. All the other allomantic metals may have been contained in various pieces of lab equipment...

[+robardin]

On 11/29/2022 at 5:11 AM, Isilel said:

They would if they needed or wanted to make many allomancers instead of one super-allomancer. Or, having little lerasium, wanted a strong misting instead of a very weak Mistborn.

 I used to think that this is how Kelsier made the initial group of SoScad Metalborn required for the medallion production, with ferrings being made with lerasium-atium-base allomantic metal alloy, but obviously this can no longer be the case. 

Concerning the lab explosion producing lerasium alloys, this is a very interesting and plausible idea! Though if so, this still potentially might have given Wax all metals except for cadmium, bendalloy and nicrosil. All the other allomantic metals may have been contained in various pieces of lab equipment...

This is my #1 beef with TLM.

Sure, confirming a second Shardic antagonist in the Cosmere was neat, and all the cosmere-wide, off-planet character cameos were fun, including the official, canonical introduction of "aethers" - as well as the strong suggestion that, taking place as it does between SA5 and SA6, Something Big Went Down On Roshar In SA5 that we don't yet know about at the time of TLM's publishing...

...but that latter angle isn't going to age well past the actual publication of SA5. Meanwhile, I'm left with feeling like the Era 2 cycle is missing a LOT of loose end tie-ups.

Who created the Bands and how? What is the deal with Kelsier's eye spike and physical (?) presence, but no Allomancy? What are the Excisors and how do they work to create medallions? How do/did the Southerners have Metalborn? Heck, just how do those airships fly?!

I guess the whole "Wonderful World of the Malwish Consortium" deep dive was always intended for Mistborn Era 3 (originally to be Era 2) and he didn't want to jog that too hard, as their Metallic Arts based tech is going to drive a lot of stuff in the future. I get it, but I'd say this is the first time I've felt as much (or more) frustrated as awed by the end of a Sanderson novel that ostensibly capped a series.

EDIT: and this hot-off-the-presses (from Dec 2022) WoB says as much!

Quote

muh_vehicles

A while back you said that if you didn't reveal how medallions are made after The Lost Metal, we could bug you for the step-by-step process. Can you tell us now?

Brandon Sanderson

So I tried to find my little write-up on this and I can't find it. So I have to re-write it up. You can bug me but I'm not going to get it yet. It needs to be canonized for certain things that are coming up very soon, so I need to write it all out again. Double-check that I run it through continuity, that it is right. The more we do these things the more complicated it gets, and the more like computer programming in a world using physics that don't exist it gets. Which is fun! That's the feature, not the bug, that it gets really finicky how these things work. But it means I have to do that whole writeup again. It was several pages. So I am going to do that again, I have to have it in hand before I can do Era Three. Bug me again when I'm writing Era Three. Sorry.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by robardin