Emotional allomancy and aluminum hats

[Terrisman]

Why does an aluminum jar shield people from emotional allomancy? Is there a logical in world reading that it works? Are emotions somehow stopped specifically in the top of the head? Is there a difference between different types of hats (for example does an aluminum beret work)? Or is this just Brandon trying to make a tinfoil hat joke

[Argenti he/him]

35 minutes ago, Terrisman said:

Why does an aluminum jar shield people from emotional allomancy? Is there a logical in world reading that it works? Are emotions somehow stopped specifically in the top of the head? Is there a difference between different types of hats (for example does an aluminum beret work)? Or is this just Brandon trying to make a tinfoil hat joke

To put it simply, Yes. The reason aluminum on the head works is because that's the emotinal center, and aluminum blocks investiture, not just in a line but also in a sort of cloud. As long as you have enough on your head, it blocks the allomancy. The tinfoil hat is a funny thing, that apprently Brandon didn't realize he did until later. Alumium is a nice metal where it's very rare until industialiazation, then it become very common.

WOBs
 

Spoiler

Jozomby

I’m wondering about the idea that you can block emotional Allomancy with an aluminum lined hat.

Brandon Sanderson

Yup.

Jozomby

Okay.  So I’m wondering how much aluminum is required.  So like, an aluminum colander, versus an aluminum headband, versus…

Brandon Sanderson

Right.  Alright.  So, I’ll be honest with you.  The idea of a tinfoil hat was so intriguing to me, basically, that I made sure this was part of the magic system.  I say it has to be tinfoil, at least. Thicker is probably better, the way these things work. I’ll try not to do spoilers.  When Hoid lets somebody use aluminum to block signals, he was going with something that you would be able to bend a little bit by pulling on it, but wouldn’t be able to fold it down.  I’d put a bare minimum, if you want to be extra sure, on that, but lining your hat with tinfoil is viable. Particularly in the later eras of Mistborn, when some of the powers are decreasing.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)

Spoiler

Questioner

I caught that reference. [in reference to tinfoil hats blocking emotional allomancy] 

Brandon Sanderson

I built aluminum to do all sorts of funky things to all the powers, and I actually hadn’t made the connection of tinfoil hats until after I’d built it in, and I was writing it in Alloy of Law, years after I built it in, saying “Wait a minute! I just put tinfoil hats in the book!” (laughter) So I actually built that without thinking that there would be a joke to that.

West Jordan signing (Dec. 15, 2011)

Spoiler

Ironeyes

We know aluminum affects mental magic and emotional magic. Would it affect the hole in your soul that’s created by Hemalurgy? If you had an aluminum spike, would that make it easier, less easy, or no difference for Ruin to take control of you?

Brandon Sanderson

Aluminum resists Investiture generally, even when it’s not Invested itself.

Ironeyes

(Brandon hems and haws a little so Ironeyes clarifies the question) Would an aluminum spike make it harder for a Soother to take control of you?

Brandon Sanderson

An aluminum spike would have no effect on a Soother’s ability. They wouldn’t see it there.

yulerule

Did you make aluminum resistant to Allomancy so that you could do the tinfoil hats?

Brandon Sanderson

No, but once I did, I was like that’s a cool idea. I made aluminum resistant to it because I wanted something to be magically inert in the Cosmere. It was a happy accident.

Boskone 54 (Feb. 18, 2017)

 

[Quantus he/him]

Hmm, I wonder:  If the culture deeply believed that the Emotional Center was a different organ, like a more literal belief in the Emotions of the Heart, or the old Humors of the Liver era of "science", would you need aluminum torso covering to get the same protection?

[Terrisman]

1 hour ago, Argenti said:

The reason aluminum on the head works is because that's the emotinal center, and aluminum blocks investiture, not just in a line but also in a sort of cloud. As long as you have enough on your head, it blocks the allomancy

So what about aluminum goggles? Or an aluminum mask

[Terrisman]

1 hour ago, Quantus said:

Hmm, I wonder:  If the culture deeply believed that the Emotional Center was a different organ, like a more literal belief in the Emotions of the Heart, or the old Humors of the Liver era of "science", would you need aluminum torso covering to get the same protection?

I would think that if a person believed that his emotional hub was somewhere else that he would be able to protect that part (such as the heart) with aluminum because his Identity sees that as the place to protect

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, Terrisman said:

Is there a logical in world reading that it works? Are emotions somehow stopped specifically in the top of the head?

It's about perception (like much of the Cosmere). Realmatically, all emotional influence (including Soothing and Rioting) works by lapping the investiture against the Cognitive Self (in Shadesmar, your Cognitive Representation isn't necessarily a body and appears differently on different Shardworlds, as seen in Mistborn:Secret History and Oathbringer). WoB

Spoiler

Edited for Length and Relevance

Phantine

Does that 'inside a body' thing work on most magics?

For instance, if Han stuck Luke into a Mistborn Tauntaun (a distant and unlucky relative of the mistborn llama), would Luke be protected from both the cold and emotional allomancy?

Brandon Sanderson

He'd have to get him inside a living one.

It does work on most magics, though the interactions can be odd unless you know a lot about the workings. Emotional Allomancy, for example, works by lapping against the outsides of someone's cognitive self, influencing you the way music might stir your soul. So being inside a living body wouldn't necessarily stop it--you'd just have more interference. Kind of like how you can still hear music outside if it's loud enough.

Actual mind control in the cosmere requires you to get INSIDE the soul, which you've seen happen frequently enough. There has to be a gap or an opening.

Or, conversely, you just have to be so powerful that you can push through the interference.

/r/books AMA 2015 (July 14, 2015)

However, human perception (especially on Scadrial) is that the "Head" was what is rioted or soothed - so enough Aluminum there helps to shield that portion of your Cognitive Self from this influence. 

18 minutes ago, Terrisman said:

I would think that if a person believed that his emotional hub was somewhere else that he would be able to protect that part (such as the heart) with aluminum because his Identity sees that as the place to protect

Unlikely, because Manifestations of Investiture are rarely about personal perception (on the large scale - it can absolutely matter on the small scale). On Scadrial, Allomancy is a combination of the Shards' Intents, the Shardworld's focus (metal) and the aggregate of the populations perception. If, in a thousand years, the most dominant perception was that the heart was the seat of emotion - then likely the way Soothing and Rioting works would shift so that aluminum armor worked instead of hats. 

Unfortunately, once something like this becomes known and used, it is unlikely to shift in that way. Not impossible, but less likely. 

Edited March 5, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Terrisman]

Ahh thanks