Elantrian's Metallic Skin

[Trusk'our he/him]

An Elantrian's skin has a distinct metallic cast to it. Could this be because it's laced with so much Investiture that it act's as the Dor's Godmetal? Could they block a Shardblade with their limbs?

[S. Stormy she/her]

No idea, and I don't think there's any way to know... (other than a WoB, obvs).

But if so, that would be storming awesome.

 

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

It could be related, yes.

Put that on the list of good WoB questions!

[Werewolff Studios he/him]

13 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

An Elantrian's skin has a distinct metallic cast to it. Could this be because it's laced with so much Investiture that it act's as the Dor's Godmetal? Could they block a Shardblade with their limbs?

That's a wonderfully cool theory! Really like it, and it makes a lot of sense. 

[Eternal Khol he/him]

I always sort of thought of the Elantrians as kinda being like Aons themselves. Aon's glow because they are pure Investiure rushing through a hole to another Realm. Elantrians are sorts the same imo, but the power is being put into a Vessel instead empty space.

[Treamayne]

10 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

An Elantrian's skin has a distinct metallic cast to it. Could this be because it's laced with so much Investiture that it act's as the Dor's Godmetal? Could they block a Shardblade with their limbs?

Even if their skin's metallic sheen has something to do with the Godmetal of Devotion/Dominion/Dor, it is unlikely it could block a Shardblade since an Elantrian's skin has been shown to be susceptible to normal blades (and other wounds) and we know Nightblood and Shardblades would not be vulnerable to ordinary steel.

But the question is good and has interesting implications.

[LewsTherinTelescope]

The book is contradictory here - at one point, it's explicitly stated to be not metallic, at other points it's stated that it is.

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

On 12/6/2022 at 5:35 AM, Treamayne said:

Even if their skin's metallic sheen has something to do with the Godmetal of Devotion/Dominion/Dor, it is unlikely it could block a Shardblade since an Elantrian's skin has been shown to be susceptible to normal blades (and other wounds) and we know Nightblood and Shardblades would not be vulnerable to ordinary steel.

But the question is good and has interesting implications.

I think there is a difference in cutting the soul and not.  Their skin may be enough to stop the blade from fuzzing and cutting the soul but it would still just be a blade against skin and I imagine they would be gashed something terrible.  

I imagine that to be the same with awakened cloth.  The magical cutting would likely not happen but it is still a sharp blade and could likely cut through the cloth. 

The reason metalminds could be made into armor or weapons to resist is that it is then metal vs metal.  Even at that certain metals certainly would work better at this than others due to some metals being so much softer than others.  

The investiture would likely stop fuzzing and the soul cutting of a shardblade but the receiver of the cut would probably be injured non the same.  If they escape they would heal a lot better than a withered dead arm.  

[Trusk'our he/him]

On 12/6/2022 at 7:35 AM, Treamayne said:

Even if their skin's metallic sheen has something to do with the Godmetal of Devotion/Dominion/Dor, it is unlikely it could block a Shardblade since an Elantrian's skin has been shown to be susceptible to normal blades (and other wounds) and we know Nightblood and Shardblades would not be vulnerable to ordinary steel.

But the question is good and has interesting implications.

 

52 minutes ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

I think there is a difference in cutting the soul and not.  Their skin may be enough to stop the blade from fuzzing and cutting the soul but it would still just be a blade against skin and I imagine they would be gashed something terrible.  

I imagine that to be the same with awakened cloth.  The magical cutting would likely not happen but it is still a sharp blade and could likely cut through the cloth. 

The reason metalminds could be made into armor or weapons to resist is that it is then metal vs metal.  Even at that certain metals certainly would work better at this than others due to some metals being so much softer than others.  

The investiture would likely stop fuzzing and the soul cutting of a shardblade but the receiver of the cut would probably be injured non the same.  If they escape they would heal a lot better than a withered dead arm.  

Good points. So, even if an Elantrian did have resistance to the regular super-sharpness that Shardblades have, they probably wouldn't be immune to the blade's edge.

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

53 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

 

Good points. So, even if an Elantrian did have resistance to the regular super-sharpness that Shardblades have, they probably wouldn't be immune to the blade's edge.

Yes.  You would lose the magical cutting on 3 realms and be left with a normal sword vs body. 

That isn't to say that the skin wouldn't resist, to some extent, the regular cutting edge of the blade if it is coated in a god metal.  It is just to say that the resistance would be based on how hard and thick that metal is.  

Spoiler

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.
General Twitter 2017 (Feb. 3, 2017)

I don't have the time to dig for more but this is the principle I am talking about.  

An aluminum rod could be used against a shardblade but aluminum foil could not.  

The shardblade is still a sword.  Swords cut things on the physical plane with or without magic.  I believe the Elantrian would escape the soul cutting just as aluminum would stop that.  But skin would be closer to foil than a rod and would still be plenty susceptible to the sword blade itself in the physical.