Stormlight vs. fGold Healing

[Kurkistan]

We've have some discussion in the past as to the degree to which magical Healing in the cosmere will heal you—and what it may "leave behind". While we know that, in general, Cognitive aspects govern healing and get you back to your "normal" self, this is not always the case.

 

In particular, I want to compare the "automatic" healing of Stormlight with Feruchemical gold. This is because, as Szeth exposits in the prologue, Stormlight cannot heal a limb that has been "severed" by a Shardblade. Feruchemical Gold, however, can heal such a limb—by healing the damage to the soul.

 

So what is the difference? Is Feruchemical gold simply very powerful, or is Stormlight weak? Would Regrowth or Resealing or AonDor be able to heal "severing"?

 

My Theory:

 

Myself, I'm inclined to think that Stormlight is somehow unique in its weakness. Either because it's meant to be a battlefield system to keep you on your feet—and so the energy-cost to heal a "severed" limb would be prohibitive and saved for Regrowth later—or, more intriguingly, because of the way that Stormlight is infused in a Surgebinder (or at least a Windrunner, assuming that's the norm).

 

Stormlight is always described as "surging through veins" or the like: what if this is more than merely metaphor? What if Stormlight is actually "pumped" exclusively over a user's spiritweb, rather than being in their body proper? In this case, the conduits needed to get Stormlight to the affected region will have been severed by the Shardblade, and so the light simply cannot ever get there to do its job properly.

 

This second explanation is not wholly satisfactory, since it begs the question of why the Stormlight can't just "build from the bridgehead", as it were, and re-create the conduits as it goes.

 

I would also like to note that it is my impression (wholly intuitive, no facts or anything) from WoK that Stormlight would not be sufficient to regrow even normally-severed limbs or other such "no take-backs" injuries. This could either mesh with the second option above or contradict it or be an incorrect impression on my part.

 

Thoughts?

Edited October 6, 2013 by Kurkistan

[Shardlet]

I think that stormlight healing, such as is enjoyed by Szeth and Kaladin, is likely limited as Szeth declares it too be.  An important consideration in this conversation is: Can regrowth heal such a wound?  I would say, yes.  To me, regrowth is going to be on par with Feruchemical gold whereas stormlight healing is a charging of the bodies natural healing.

[Moogle]

I don't think Stormlight is any different than Feruchemical gold, just weaker. I think you can heal severed arms or Shardblade-chopped arms, it's just that holding that much Stormlight would vaporize your body (like Vin and the mists, except you don't get to ascend to Shardhood). Szeth, for example, feels like he's going to explode at one point. It is therefore impossible to actually heal severed limbs with normal Stormlight holding.

 

Feruchemical gold, when used 'weakly', leaves scars. If you don't have much of a charge in your goldminds, you can't regenerate limbs. Stormlight would be similar.

 

Stormlight, mostly, is 'held' and isn't used directly. The healing effects and the pewterish effects are mostly just a side-effect as the Stormlight escapes your body before you can use it. This would explain why Regrowth can be used to regrow limbs, despite normal Stormlight not being able to manage it - all the Stormlight's power is devoted to just that task, while only a fraction is used towards healing while you hold it normally.

 

As something of a tangent, I suspect the reason Stormlight feels like it is surging in your veins is because it actually it is diffused in your blood. (Based on the description of wounds leaking Stormlight instead of blood, though, I suspect it's more that your blood is diffused in the Stormlight.) This is actually useful, from a healing point of view: if you get clawed, and lots of blood starts to leak out, that increases the concentration of the Stormlight at the site of the wound, and heals it faster.

 

Edit: Actually, as my theory seems mostly that Stormlight is in the blood, it seems like it would be mostly Physical, so I suppose my prediction is that you can heal severed limbs, but not Shardblade-severed limbs. I'm not very sure at all.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Moogle

[Oudeis]

I just sorta thought that "holding Stormlight" was more like Allomantic pewter. It makes you stronger, and increases your body's natural abilities, including its ability to heal, but it can't make your body heal something it simply could never heal on its own; Feruchemical gold, by contrast, is a fundamentally different type of investiture. If your arm gets cut off while you're burning Pewter, it might seal off the bleeding more rapidly, but it would never grow the arm back. Feruchemical gold, however, would. The two powers, at a glance, seem to have some overlap, but they do a similar thing in slightly different ways.

 

Just my two cents.

[happyman]

Darnam:

 

Upvote for making a really good distinction between the two.  I think you've really hit on it.

 

To rephrase what you said, there are two different magical effects in play.  The first is enhancement.  Allomantic pewter and Stormlight are enhancement magics: they supercharge something already existing.  Like the Enhancement metals (Allomancy only), they do nothing without a natural basis to sit on.  In other words, Stormlight could make Kaladin faster, smarter and better with the spear, but only if he already knew what he was doing.

 

Healing and Regrowth, on the other hand, are exactly what it says on the tin.  They add new abilities entirely.  They interact with the Cognitive realm to get a "base state" to get back to, but their purpose is to do something that would never happen without them.

Edited October 7, 2013 by happyman

[Kurkistan]

I can buy that interpretation, Darnam/Happy.