Steelsight and atium

[Hmmm lies she/her]

How is it that Steel Inquisitors can use atium to foresee attacks when they can only see trace metals, and atium shadows don't have metal. (Just a theory, maybe they see atium shadows of their steel lines?)

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Hmmm lies said:

How is it that Steel Inquisitors can use atium to foresee attacks when they can only see trace metals, and atium shadows don't have metal. (Just a theory, maybe they see atium shadows of their steel lines?)

The Atium Shadows (and Gold, Electrum, Malatium Shadows) aren't anything physical that depend on your eyes to "see" - the investiture is giving you information from the Spiritual Realm (where there is no time or place) and Allomancers interpret that as visual cues (but note, they do not have to "see" an Atium Shadow to react to it):

TFE Ch 14:

Spoiler

Quote

 

A squad of soldiers stood waiting for her. However, each one bore a future-shadow. Vin ducked between them, barely watching where their weapons would fall, somehow avoiding the attacks of twelve different men. And, for a moment, she almost forgot the pain and fear—and they were replaced by an incredible sense of power. She dodged effortlessly, staves swinging above and beside her, each one missing by just inches. She was invincible.

She spun through the ranks of the men, not bothering to kill or hurt them—she only wanted to escape. 

 

Implied, but not stated, if she was moving through a crowd of 12 soldiers, at least some of the attacks she dodged had to have come from behind

HoA Ch 81:

Spoiler

Quote

 

Elend sheared through two heads at once, dropping the koloss. He spun his blade, taking off an arm, then stabbed another koloss through the neck. He hadn’t seen that one approaching, but his mind had seen and interpreted the atium shadow before the real attack came.

Already he stood atop of carpet of blue corpses.

 

Explicitly stated that he reacted to a shadow he never "saw"

WoB:

Spoiler

Herowannabe

I recently picked up the Mistborn Adventure game and am loving it. I made a character who is a blind Mistborn because hey, I thought it would make for some interesting possibilities. As I understand Allomancy, he can hear/sense well enough to get around with Tin, plus even though he's blind he can still "see" steel lines (like the inquisitors), and I assume Atium would work the same way- that is, he could still "see" Atium shadows. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Brandon Sanderson

No, you're right. That works. He'd have to burn metals a LOT though. It might warp him a little.

Hope that helps

Edited October 31, 2023 by Treamayne
SPAG / Clarity