Investiture, Sound, and Color

[jayoda019]

One of the most interesting things about investiture to me is its connection to music and color. This is mentioned in excess through the cosmere, particularly on Roshar and Nalthis. And, we know that each Shard has its own tone (or frequency of sound). Also, I'm pretty sure its cannon that every shard has its own color/s (or frequency of light). Now my thought was that because they are both frequencies, they are actually the same, and each shards unique frequency defines the investiture and all the stuff that goes along with that. I would like to know what you guys think of this! Also, I want to know what this could even mean. It may be just some random fun fact about investiture or maybe it could mean something more...

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

There is not one type of matter nor energy, so why should there be only one type of investiture? It is possible that each Shard has its own, or maybe multiple, types of investiture that resonate at different frequencies due to their structure and also emit different wavelengths of light. The structure/type of particles of each type of investiture could indeed influence how the investiture forms and affects matter and energy. 

[jayoda019]

I've never really thought about that! That could help explain things like allomancy, because the common description that I've seen says that when you burn a metal you channel a different amount of investiture, and you use the metal as a guide so the investiture "knows" how much to use. But that has always seemed off. I like the idea of it being varying levels of harmonics. This could also describe the surges. It is commonly known that the surges are different mixtures of Tanavastium and Koravelium (correct me if that is the wrong name, as I'm not fully sure) even though they are the same alloy (i forgot where I heard this, but I'm pretty sure its WoB) but if it was instead harmonics... Take progression (healing) which from my understanding is "more" cultivation. But what if instead it was the same but cultivation's frequency was the "root" and honor's was the "fifth" or another part of the chord (this is some music talk. The root is the base of the chord. For a C chord, the root would be C. and the Fifth is the fifth note in the scale. For C that would be G. It's a little complex, and if you don't understand, just think of the fifth being "less critical" to the chord, therefore not the key note that you hear.)

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

That is another theory that I had not considered, but I wasn't precisely suggesting harmonics as the reason for differing affects of investiture. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, both matter and energy are made of particles called fermions and bosons, respectively. WoB has stated that there is a triad between matter, energy, and investiture, suggesting that investiture is also made of another class of subatomic (or in this case subaxial) particles, particularly since it may exist on its own and become sentient. There are 24 different types of fermions and I think maybe 9 different bosons, so it follows that there would be different types of investiture particles as well, which could be arranged into things similar to atoms depending on the fundamental forces acting upon them. Due to the existence of anti-investiture, investiture particles must have charges so it could be assumed that something that is invested is simply attracting investiture particles towards it. This may not be the electromagnetic force however, since magnets do not seem to have an affect on investiture. 

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, jayoda019 said:

the common description that I've seen says that when you burn a metal you channel a different amount of investiture, and you use the metal as a guide so the investiture "knows" how much to use.

Not quite - the molecular structure of the metal is the "key" to Preservation's power, and that "shape" defines the way the power enters the physical realm and what work it does - much like the shape of an Aon (in AonDor on Sel) determines the effect the Dor has as it comes through the equation. Each Metal's Bronze pulse is a  Rhythm of Preservation's tone, which is why they alol sound different to Seekers. WoBs:

Spoiler

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Brandon Sanderson

Oooooh, ok. Hm. That one is so hard! Every time people ask me something like this... What have I never been asked that people should be asking, is basically what the question is? Something that the fans have just missed... They pick up on so much, that it’s hard... I do wonder if, you know… all the magic systems [in my books] are connected and work on some basic fundamental principles, and a lot of people haven’t been asking questions about this. One thing I did get a question on today, and I’ll just talk about this one... they didn’t ask the right question, but I nudged them the right way, is understanding that tie between AonDor [the magic system from Elantris] and Allomancy [Mistborn’s magic system].

People ask about getting the power from metals and things, but that’s not actually how it works. The power’s not coming from metal. I talked a little about this before, but you are drawing power from some source, and the metal is actually just a gateway. It’s actually the molecular structure of the metal… what’s going on there, the pattern, the resonance of that metal works in the same way as an Aon does in Elantris. It filters the power. So it is just a sign of “this is what power this energy is going to be shaped into and give you.”

Open The Fridge Interview (Nov. 16, 2011)

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MoriWillow

Is that tone and rhythm stuff universal to the Shards and Investiture elsewhere?

Brandon Sanderson

The tones can be expanded to other Shards and Invested Arts around the cosmere.

dIvorrap

Are the Allomantic pulses a Seeker hears (like drum beats) related to the tones of Preservation, then?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they are.

General Reddit 2020 (Nov. 22, 2020)

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Questioner

If a Parshendi were to attain Allomancy and burn Bronze, how would they feel about the Bronze pulses?

Brandon Sanderson

They would feel that they were somewhat familiar but a little odd.

Skyward San Diego signing (Nov. 7, 2018)

 

Hope that helps