Midnight essence and midnight aether.

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

How hard and sharp can midnight essence get?  When the crimes were being copied in Oathbringer was the essence gathering up weapons to use or did it create them?  

Or I am just misremembering it all and the question simply makes no sense.  

I'm a fan of summoning weapons or creating them from the Aethers and curious how well Midnight essence could form weapons or defenses. 

Roseite I figure is pretty straight forward but I really like the idea of being able to experience and see through the creations of midnight essence. 

When Twinsoul grew the roseite under the door I feel like I remember silajana explaining what was on the other side. He couldn't see and experience through roseite right?  But Midnight essence does allow for that right?  

 

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

But Midnight essence does allow for that right? 

Unknown. Midnight Spores do, but while they are related to Midnight Essence the two are not the same:

Spoiler

Comatose

Kind of a similar question about the Midnight Essence, now that we have seen that crop up in Tress as well as in Stormlight Archive. Is something similar happening with the Midnight Essence? We have also the nightmares, in Yumi, that appear similar, they're also mimicking things.

Brandon Sanderson

So, there's a couple of things getting interwoven here. The actual idea of Midnight Essence is a concept like Lightweaving that predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, that various magic systems are basically "borrowing" a law of the cosmere and creating a parallel effect from the same basis, if that makes any sense.

 

Shardcast Interview (July 30, 2023)

I'd imagine that in the Venn Diagram "Midnight" (Pre-shattering); that Nightmares, Midnight Essence (SA), Midnight Spores (Tress), and Midnight Aether (Presumed), all four would intersect with each other, but none of them would overlap by more than 50% and all four together are not likely to cover more than 60-70% of the "whole" of Midnight. 

5 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

When Twinsoul grew the roseite under the door I feel like I remember silajana explaining what was on the other side.

It does not say if Twinsoul sensed it directly or Siljana explained what was there (unless it's mentioned in a later passage) - TLM Ch 45:

Spoiler

TwinSoul crouched beside Marasi, then let a tiny—practically invisible—line of crystals sneak under the door.

“Ah,” he said. “You see that large wall that juts out to our left, just inside the room? That’s our industrial elevator as you had anticipated, my lady.”

Ch 47 does have a passage like you describe, though it is unclear if he is using the speech pattern because Siljana is really explaining, or because that's how Twinsoul describes sensing though the Aether:

Spoiler

“Service hatch,” Marasi said, locating one set into the other corner. She eased it open. The front doors of the elevator were open, though she couldn’t see much more from this angle. She waved TwinSoul over. “Can you see if there is anyone watching below?”

A small line of roseite provided answers.

“Silajana sees two guards,” TwinSoul whispered. “A man and a woman, armed with rifles. They are opposite the open elevator door, near a natural stone wall. It appears that we have indeed arrived at a series of tunnels and caverns.

“The guards do not seem observant, and are currently looking at one another rather than the elevator. Should I try to send them to the aethers, their souls left to ruminate on their poor choices in this particular life?”

As for the Rosharan Midnight Essence, in OB ch 25, Rock describes the Construct as using a conventional weapon (though it may be an assumption, unclear if he saw an actual knife):

Spoiler

Storms. She was Veil right now, but she didn’t dare expose the ruse, especially not in the open. “I’m on Aladar’s policing force,” she said, digging in her pocket. “I have my commission here…”

“Is fine,” Rock said, sighing, his wariness seeming to evaporate. “I did nothing. Some person pulled knife. I did not see him well—long coat, and a hat. A woman in crowd screamed, drawing my attention. Then, this man, he attacked.”

“Storms. Who is dead?”

“Dead?” The Horneater looked to his companion. “Nobody is dead. Attacker stabbed my hand, then ran. Was assassination attempt, maybe? Person got angry about rule of tower, so he attacked me, for being in Kholin guard?”

Veil felt a chill. Horneater. Tall, burly.

But in the Starfalls vision, the Constructs very clearly are able to form sharp claws:

Spoiler

Claws scraped on stone from behind as the thing bounded toward them. Dalinar threw his shoulder against the door just as it opened.

<snip>

His sudden whirlwind of blows shocked the creatures. He smashed the table leg against one, forcing it back, then threw himself at the other one, earning a rake of the claws against his arm as he rammed the poker into the beast’s chest. 

<snip>

She raised the lamp, illuminating the hillside in flickering yellow. A good dozen midnight patches, skins too smooth, were creeping over rockbuds and boulders. Even their teeth and claws were black.

Seeli whimpered, pulling close to her mother.

Hope that helps

Edited January 28 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

On 1/28/2024 at 4:30 AM, Treamayne said:

Unknown. Midnight Spores do, but while they are related to Midnight Essence the two are not the same:

  Reveal hidden contents

Comatose

Kind of a similar question about the Midnight Essence, now that we have seen that crop up in Tress as well as in Stormlight Archive. Is something similar happening with the Midnight Essence? We have also the nightmares, in Yumi, that appear similar, they're also mimicking things.

Brandon Sanderson

So, there's a couple of things getting interwoven here. The actual idea of Midnight Essence is a concept like Lightweaving that predates the Shattering of Adonalsium, that various magic systems are basically "borrowing" a law of the cosmere and creating a parallel effect from the same basis, if that makes any sense.

 

Shardcast Interview (July 30, 2023)

I'd imagine that in the Venn Diagram "Midnight" (Pre-shattering); that Nightmares, Midnight Essence (SA), Midnight Spores (Tress), and Midnight Aether (Presumed), all four would intersect with each other, but none of them would overlap by more than 50% and all four together are not likely to cover more than 60-70% of the "whole" of Midnight. 

It does not say if Twinsoul sensed it directly or Siljana explained what was there (unless it's mentioned in a later passage) - TLM Ch 45:

  Reveal hidden contents

TwinSoul crouched beside Marasi, then let a tiny—practically invisible—line of crystals sneak under the door.

“Ah,” he said. “You see that large wall that juts out to our left, just inside the room? That’s our industrial elevator as you had anticipated, my lady.”

Ch 47 does have a passage like you describe, though it is unclear if he is using the speech pattern because Siljana is really explaining, or because that's how Twinsoul describes sensing though the Aether:

  Reveal hidden contents

“Service hatch,” Marasi said, locating one set into the other corner. She eased it open. The front doors of the elevator were open, though she couldn’t see much more from this angle. She waved TwinSoul over. “Can you see if there is anyone watching below?”

A small line of roseite provided answers.

“Silajana sees two guards,” TwinSoul whispered. “A man and a woman, armed with rifles. They are opposite the open elevator door, near a natural stone wall. It appears that we have indeed arrived at a series of tunnels and caverns.

“The guards do not seem observant, and are currently looking at one another rather than the elevator. Should I try to send them to the aethers, their souls left to ruminate on their poor choices in this particular life?”

As for the Rosharan Midnight Essence, in OB ch 25, Rock describes the Construct as using a conventional weapon (though it may be an assumption, unclear if he saw an actual knife):

  Reveal hidden contents

Storms. She was Veil right now, but she didn’t dare expose the ruse, especially not in the open. “I’m on Aladar’s policing force,” she said, digging in her pocket. “I have my commission here…”

“Is fine,” Rock said, sighing, his wariness seeming to evaporate. “I did nothing. Some person pulled knife. I did not see him well—long coat, and a hat. A woman in crowd screamed, drawing my attention. Then, this man, he attacked.”

“Storms. Who is dead?”

“Dead?” The Horneater looked to his companion. “Nobody is dead. Attacker stabbed my hand, then ran. Was assassination attempt, maybe? Person got angry about rule of tower, so he attacked me, for being in Kholin guard?”

Veil felt a chill. Horneater. Tall, burly.

But in the Starfalls vision, the Constructs very clearly are able to form sharp claws:

  Hide contents

Claws scraped on stone from behind as the thing bounded toward them. Dalinar threw his shoulder against the door just as it opened.

<snip>

His sudden whirlwind of blows shocked the creatures. He smashed the table leg against one, forcing it back, then threw himself at the other one, earning a rake of the claws against his arm as he rammed the poker into the beast’s chest. 

<snip>

She raised the lamp, illuminating the hillside in flickering yellow. A good dozen midnight patches, skins too smooth, were creeping over rockbuds and boulders. Even their teeth and claws were black.

Seeli whimpered, pulling close to her mother.

Hope that helps

I think this all helps. At first thought my mind for a midnight aetherbound was just a pet class. Now I am picturing more of a Symbiote like Venom or something. Honestly one of the cooler things I have cooked up in my mind. The fact that it can create claws capable of damaging shardplate is super interesting. I assume if it can create something hard enough to damage plate and it is considered highly invested it could likely resist a blade as well to an extent. 

Only big turn off from the coppermind is that it smells putrid?  Is that just the roshar version or is it described that way in other works where it exists?  

[Treamayne]

7 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

I assume if it can create something hard enough to damage plate and it is considered highly invested it could likely resist a blade as well to an extent. 

I doubt it is scoring the Plate due to being invested (especially invested enough to resist a Blade), since we also see rocks and tree limbs damage plate with enough force; it's more likely meant as an indication of the strength they can wield. If the "skins" could be pierced by a hearth poker, then I doubt they resist a shardblade much (and the Radiants in the vision don't show any resistance when fighting).

7 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

Only big turn off from the coppermind is that it smells putrid?  Is that just the roshar version or is it described that way in other works where it exists?

The Essense created by Re-Shaphir in the tower was not described with the scent, so it seems likely to me that it was due to whatever person/mechanism created and released the creatures in the Starfalls vision. It's also possible, I guess, that it could be a cumulative effect - that there were so many creatures the odor became detectible. Also possible that Honor added the scent to the vision to enhance/re-inforce the experience (since, presumably, the people experiencing the vision would not know what they were encountering).