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Shardblades and Aluminum


Themasterhunter

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Yata

Hi, the community has a [question], we have two WoBs: Shardblades can cut aluminum and Shardblades can't cut it. Which one is true?

Brandon Sanderson (Part 1/Part 2/Part 3)

Hm. Yes, I wondered last night if I'd ever answered this before. Truth is, the answer is contentious at Team Sanderson.

I've been pushing for one answer, but Peter (whom I trust) is pushing back. We will see what ends up in the books as canon.

Problem with magic like I do is sometimes you have to wait for the scientific consensus... :) Err on "no" for now.

Peter Ahlstrom (Part 1/Part 2/Part 3)

Oh, I think aluminum would stop Shardblades from magical cutting. But if it's too thin like foil, a sword...

...would cut it anyway. What I'm arguing is that something else that Shardblades don't cut doesn't need...

...to necessarily be made of aluminum, for various reasons.

Yata

For example Invested objects (metalmind,spike,etc) or polestones (from some SA's Quote) ?

Peter Ahlstrom

RAFO

Footnote: The two conflicting WoBs can be found here and here. Also the "something else" that Peter was referring to is likely the Shardblade guards, which have since been confirmed to not be aluminum.
source

It's not clear, I'm not really sure so lets go with a maybe

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Basically, yes. Aluminum prevents the magical cutting ability of a shardblade, but if the material is thin, you're still hitting it with a massive sword. 

So if you have a solid aluminum shield, it's going to be as effective a shield as it would be against a regular sword... Which is to say better than nothing, but not very as aluminum is going to get beat up and break relatively quickly. 

If you were to wrap a regular shield in aluminum foil though, the blade would break through the aluminum without an issue and then magically cut the shield. 

So, yes, it would work. But it would be ungodly expensive at Rosharan tech levels unless it were Soulcast. 

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I would say no. Remember, Shallan once had a necklace or something that was made aluminum. I believe that one of the side characters said something about aluminum only available through Soulcasting. If shardblades couldn't cut through aluminum, then there would be a mention for certain - and Jah Kevad wouldn't have to make those "half shards".

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5 minutes ago, John Flamesinger said:

I would say no. Remember, Shallan once had a necklace or something that was made aluminum. I believe that one of the side characters said something about aluminum only available through Soulcasting. If shardblades couldn't cut through aluminum, then there would be a mention for certain - and Jah Kevad wouldn't have to make those "half shards".

First we have this. 

Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

So, I'm intrigued by aluminum, especially the fact that it can only be found by Soulcasting on Roshar. So, how was it discovered in the first place?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

...Did I say you can only get it through Soulcasting?

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

In the Shallan flashbacks, she has the pendant.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Don't take what she says at 100% truth.

source

And more importantly, we have this. 

Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

What metal is Nightblood's sheath made out of?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Nightblood's sheath is aluminum.

source

And this. 

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Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

The meteorite metal that they talk about that blocks Shards, is that aluminum?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Uh, so-- yes.

Footnote: Referencing OB Ch 100, "There are legends of metal that can block a Shardblade. A metal that falls from the sky. Silver, but somehow lighter." It is a point of contention, however, whether or not aluminum can actually block a Shardblade.
source

 

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Maybe I am a bit late but the Shardblade VS Aluminium doubt is now solved for sure by in-book evidence.

In OB a Shardblade is directly stopped by a piece of Aluminium.

My own Wob someone else posted before needs probably to be updated

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