theory Aluminum theory

[WorldHopper Mailman]

I just joined the forums to post this theory.

Aluminum is unique in that it is a metal that has magical properties on every planet and is not a god metal. my theory is that aluminum is in fact Adonalsium's God metal. my main reason for this is because it shows up on every planet and Adonalsium is the only one who would be able to have his godmetal on every planet. about aluminum's properties of repelling investiture, I think that this is because after the shattering his power would be kind of corrupted I guess and we have no other examples of a godmetal appearing after a shards death (I don't count shardblades since they have the spren's identity holding them).

just wondered what you guys would think about this

[NameIess]

16 minutes ago, I_am_a_stick said:

I just joined the forums to post this theory.

Aluminum is unique in that it is a metal that has magical properties on every planet and is not a god metal. my theory is that aluminum is in fact Adonalsium's God metal. my main reason for this is because it shows up on every planet and Adonalsium is the only one who would be able to have his godmetal on every planet. about aluminum's properties of repelling investiture, I think that this is because after the shattering his power would be kind of corrupted I guess and we have no other examples of a godmetal appearing after a shards death (I don't count shardblades since they have the spren's identity holding them).

just wondered what you guys would think about this

Aluminum functions too much like a normal metal. Soulcasters can make it, when they wouldn't be able to make other godmetals:

Quote

ninch

Could a person Soulcast more atium and lerasium if they had a bead?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Investiture messes things like that up.

General Signed Books 2014 (April 29, 2014)

And aluminum can be made using normal methods like we have in real life:

Quote

Questioner

In Mistborn Era 1, they don't...aluminum in real life can only really be refined through the use of electricity.

Brandon Sanderson

You can actually get it before that. For instance, Napoleon had a set of aluminum dinnerware that he gave to the really fancy guests. If you weren't fancy enough, you got the gold. So they could get it in elemental form without electrolysis or whatever the process is. You could get it, but you couldn't make it. It was extremely rare till the modern era.

They have started to figure out that process in Mistborn, and it soon is going to become really common.

Questioner

Once aluminum is dirt cheap like it is--

Brandon Sanderson

That changes the world a whole bunch!

Skyward release party (Nov. 6, 2018)

So I don't think it's a godmetal.

[WorldHopper Mailman]

you make great points but it is a godmetal from a god loooong dead but yeah your probably right

[WorldHopper Mailman]

and also since adonalsium created the universe it makes sense that their metal could be obtained through natural means

[HSuperLee]

You say aluminum is unique in that it is a metal with magical properties on another planet without being a god-metal, but the truth is that the more we learn about the advanced workings of magic systems, the more things like metal, color, and rhythm all start to appear as important in every magic system. We learned in RoW that metals have a great effect on fabrials, and we've seen from the beginning of SA how important the color of gemstones are, despite them being chemically almost identical. Meanwhile, we're only in retrospect realizing that the pulses a seeker can detect are probably related to the rhythms of investiture.

My point is that aluminum having properties in every magic system isn't so unique. Rather, what's unique is how dramatic that effect is. And while I'm sure there is an explanation for that, I'm not convinced its because aluminum is a god-metal. I'll admit it might be, but my main hesitation is all the investiture "assigned" to Adonalsium took on a new "spin" when they shattered, meaning that aluminum would likely have split into the 16 different god-metals rather than simply becoming inert.

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

@I_am_a_stick man there are so many people with similar names. Anyways, it's frowned upon to post twice in a row, rather, the mods like it when you edit your first comment with new information if there hasn't been a long time since your last post or another post since then. Also, in regards to your theory, it's an interesting idea, however, for the reasons listed above, and the fact that nobody in world is interested by it's existence as a metal and merely in it's properties concerning investiture(including what's her name from the ars arcanum).

59 minutes ago, HSuperLee said:

my main hesitation is all the investiture "assigned" to Adonalsium took on a new "spin" when they shattered, meaning that aluminum would likely have split into the 16 different god-metals rather than simply becoming inert.

I would disagree, it's more like the different intents we're all part of a salad dressing or other mixture held together by an emulsifier, and the death of Ado caused the emulsifier to vanish and the different intents to separate. Thus, no new "spins" they just separated and formed new systems.

[Frustration]

4 hours ago, Ta'veren Kaladin said:

I would disagree, it's more like the different intents we're all part of a salad dressing or other mixture held together by an emulsifier, and the death of Ado caused the emulsifier to vanish and the different intents to separate. Thus, no new "spins" they just separated and formed new systems.

Harmony isn't just Ruin+Preservation, neither is War just Odium+Honor, so it would be weird for Adonalsium to just be a sum of the shards.

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

I don't want to detail this topic, so these are my final thoughts on this. Yes, they appear to be more because the intents mix and combine, creating something that is not them, but of them, like how paints mix. In harmony especially, you can see both sides, preservation and ruin, which when combined form a balance, and equilibrium. When you combine or separate two things, you can get new characteristics, but they were actually always there.

[EmulatonStromenkiin he/him]

6 hours ago, Ta'veren Kaladin said:

I don't want to detail this topic, so these are my final thoughts on this. Yes, they appear to be more because the intents mix and combine, creating something that is not them, but of them, like how paints mix. In harmony especially, you can see both sides, preservation and ruin, which when combined form a balance, and equilibrium. When you combine or separate two things, you can get new characteristics, but they were actually always there.

rather, the potential for them was always actually there.

[+ShardlessVessel]

17 hours ago, Frustration said:

Harmony isn't just Ruin+Preservation, neither is War just Odium+Honor, so it would be weird for Adonalsium to just be a sum of the shards.

Especially since we know that the Shards could be different, both in number and Intents.

[Lego Mistborn he/him]

On 4/13/2022 at 1:42 PM, EmulatonStromenkiin said:

rather, the potential for them was always actually there.

Yes, exactly what I was thinking.

[CameronUluvara she/her]

On 4/12/2022 at 11:48 AM, I_am_a_stick said:

I just joined the forums to post this theory.

Aluminum is unique in that it is a metal that has magical properties on every planet and is not a god metal. my theory is that aluminum is in fact Adonalsium's God metal. my main reason for this is because it shows up on every planet and Adonalsium is the only one who would be able to have his godmetal on every planet. about aluminum's properties of repelling investiture, I think that this is because after the shattering his power would be kind of corrupted I guess and we have no other examples of a godmetal appearing after a shards death (I don't count shardblades since they have the spren's identity holding them).

just wondered what you guys would think about this

Aluminum is unique in that it doesn’t have magical properties. There was a whole discussion a while back about it being some kind of anti-god metal because it’s not affected by investiture. It can’t be soulcast, it can’t be Pushed or Pulled, it blocks emotional allomancy, it can’t be cut by a shardblade. Not only does it resist investiture, it actively cancels it out, which isn’t something we see from the other God-metals. Better theory is that aluminum was part of what shattered Adonalsium, or a result of the shattering. 

[NameIess]

36 minutes ago, CameronUluvara said:

Aluminum is unique in that it doesn’t have magical properties. There was a whole discussion a while back about it being some kind of anti-god metal because it’s not affected by investiture. It can’t be soulcast, it can’t be Pushed or Pulled, it blocks emotional allomancy, it can’t be cut by a shardblade. Not only does it resist investiture, it actively cancels it out, which isn’t something we see from the other God-metals. Better theory is that aluminum was part of what shattered Adonalsium, or a result of the shattering. 

It is also a part of allomancy, and is useable in hemalurgy and feruchemy as well.

[Frustration]

47 minutes ago, CameronUluvara said:

Aluminum is unique in that it doesn’t have magical properties. There was a whole discussion a while back about it being some kind of anti-god metal because it’s not affected by investiture. It can’t be soulcast, it can’t be Pushed or Pulled, it blocks emotional allomancy, it can’t be cut by a shardblade. Not only does it resist investiture, it actively cancels it out, which isn’t something we see from the other God-metals. Better theory is that aluminum was part of what shattered Adonalsium, or a result of the shattering. 

It does not cancel investiture, it is inert.

[CameronUluvara she/her]

13 minutes ago, Nameless said:

It is also a part of allomancy, and is useable in hemalurgy and feruchemy as well.

It’s a part of allomancy in that it destroys all your other metals.

3 minutes ago, Frustration said:

It does not cancel investiture, it is inert.

Why do you say that? And once again, do you understand that that doesn’t affect the theory?

[Frustration]

Just now, CameronUluvara said:

IWhy do you say that?

Because aluminum doesn't turn investiture off, it is just unaffected.

1 minute ago, CameronUluvara said:

And once again, do you understand that that doesn’t affect the theory?

Well it's wrong anyway because normal metals cannot be shard metals, because shardmetals are regular metals so permiated with investiture that they become something else.

Spoiler

Viper (paraphrased)

So in cosmere, does physics work the same way in the Physical Realm as it does in our world? Specifically, particle physics; and are atoms made up of protons and neutrons and electrons, and is light photons, etc?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes.

Viper (paraphrased)

So what's at the core of an atom of atium? Ate-teum? Also how do you pronounce it? At-teum?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes. And the matter is just normal matter, but it's wrapped in the Spiritual. The Spiritual DNA [or something] is what makes it magical.

A Memory of Light Milford Signing (Feb. 16, 2013)

 

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, CameronUluvara said:

It’s a part of allomancy in that it destroys all your other metals.

Yes. But it is a part of allomancy. And for feruchemy, you can actually store investiture in it.

[Primeival Chaos he/him]

5 minutes ago, CameronUluvara said:

It’s a part of allomancy in that it destroys all your other metals

Shouldn't the fact that it wipes out all of your allomantic metals prove that it is not inert, and rather actively working?

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, Primeval Chaos said:

Shouldn't the fact that it wipes out all of your allomantic metals prove that it is not inert, and rather actively working?

Well, if that was the case, then what's chromium? It also removes metals. Aluminum removing investiture is just part of the magic system.

[CameronUluvara she/her]

The feruchemy doesn’t matter because it stores identity. That doesn’t count because identity is a self-aware concept gained through consciousness given to humanity by Ruin/Preservation. It’s still anti-god. Also, no one knows how identity works, and Brandon has avoided talking about it. 

[NameIess]

1 minute ago, CameronUluvara said:

The feruchemy doesn’t matter because it stores identity. That doesn’t count because identity is a self-aware concept gained through consciousness given to humanity by Ruin/Preservation. It’s still anti-god. Also, no one knows how identity works, and Brandon has avoided talking about it. 

It stores identity in the form of investiture.

[CameronUluvara she/her]

2 minutes ago, Nameless said:

It stores identity in the form of investiture.

And that means?

[NameIess]

Just now, CameronUluvara said:

And that means?

That aluminum is not antithetical to investiture.

[CameronUluvara she/her]

2 minutes ago, Nameless said:

That aluminum is not antithetical to investiture.

Simply because it can store investiture, regardless of what that investiture is? Is identity even investiture?

Edited April 15, 2022 by CameronUluvara

[Primeival Chaos he/him]

So Aluminum is a metal that destroys Investiture, stores Investiture, and blocks Investiture