Intent for Splitting Harmonium

[Trutharchivist he/him]

So, I'm probably not the first one to consider this, but digging through the threads would be a bit exhausting - do tell me if someone said it before.

So, something Wax did with attempting to split Harmonium was different from other attempts. It's unlikely to have been anything about the physical aspects of it, since that would just end up being an "unknown impurity of the salt" since the only unique part about the situation physically was that it was done in a home laboratory. Considering how Investiture generally works, I'd say it's clearly something to do with Intent or Command or something. Likely Intent.

Here's the thing: one of the things emphasized in this section is the safety precautions Steris makes everyone take. It's told from her perspective, and some emphasis is put on her wanting to keep her friends and family safe. To preserve them, so to speak. Meanwhile, Wax is really used to and fully expect some ruin to happen around - explosions keep happening against him and such.

So... What if that's what made the difference? Marsh and Sazed attempting to do that did with too much Preservation in their minds, wanting Marsh to live on. The Set had more explosive, Ruinous intentions of explosions. But only Wax and Steris, in their homemade lab, actually had the correct balance of both to fully split Harmonium into Atium and Lerasium.

[Verdance he/him]

Well, I think Wax wasn’t intending to cause an explosion in the same way Steris was intending to preserve everyone

he was expecting it, but also wanted to avoid it. Wax is portrayed as a hand of Harmony, his sword, one of his more ruinous aspects, but i think he’s balanced in intent

however, this is an interesting and quite possible theory. I forget- wasn’t Wayne there? He does enjoy explosions, I wouldn’t put it past him to have contributed to the ruinous intent by secretly rooting for an explosion a little

Also are you an Oracle? Me too

[Trutharchivist he/him]

That is a fair point, and yes! Wayne was there! Maybe I should bring the quote around to see if he said or seemed to imply anything interesting.

Where did you get the Oracle comment? I'm pretty sure I changed my member title, and the rank is Spinner currently.

Edit: I'm an idiot. My profile pic. Obviously.

Edited March 17 by Trutharchivist

[Verdance he/him]

You have an allomantic electrum symbol in your profile, as well as what i think is feruchemical steel?

i dont own era two yet, i library’d them or else i could help more

[Frustration]

I've seen a few of these, this one is certainly better in my mind as the Set would have at one point or another tried getting Lerasium for it.

 

I still think the difference was that Wax used a Hemalurgic spike instead of normal Trellium, but this is an interesting idea.

[Verdance he/him]

1 minute ago, Frustration said:

I've seen a few of these, this one is certainly better in my mind as the Set would have at one point or another tried getting Lerasium for it.

 

I still think the difference was that Wax used a Hemalurgic spike instead of normal Trellium, but this is an interesting idea.

Good point! I have heard some interesting debate over whether hemalurgic spikes naturally carry ruins investiture and intent but that probably fits better than “wayne likes big booms”

[Trutharchivist he/him]

8 hours ago, Through The Living Grass said:

You have an allomantic electrum symbol in your profile, as well as what i think is feruchemical steel?

i dont own era two yet, i library’d them or else i could help more

Yeah, I realized that right after posting that. I just forgot. Also, I think it was the Feruchemical copper sign? I'm also an archivist, that's my favourite Feruchemical power.

8 hours ago, Frustration said:

I still think the difference was that Wax used a Hemalurgic spike instead of normal Trellium, but this is an interesting idea.

Good point. The crux of my theory is how preserving Steris is being in this scene, and there clearly needs to be a certain balance of Ruin and Preservation to split the metal. A Hemalurgic spike can also work for a Ruin side, I suppose, though I think an equal and opposing Intent would make more sense.

8 hours ago, Frustration said:

I've seen a few of these, this one is certainly better in my mind as the Set would have at one point or another tried getting Lerasium for it.

Even if the Set did, I still think they wouldn't really have the Intent nailed down. They want Lerasium, but not for Preservation purposes.

[alder24]

It's possible, but I still believe that Wax's thoughts about what he was going to do with godmetals, if he was successful in creating them, gave the intent needed to split Harmonium into Atium and Lerasium. Wax had this very specific mindset, that neither the Set or Kandra had, as both wanted to use god metals, while he didn't and knew the experiment won't change anything about him. TLM ch 15:

Quote

It took a good half hour to set the whole thing up. All the while, Wax wondered. What if he did split harmonium? He’d have two metals, the bodies of gods, each capable of incredible things from ancient lore, like manipulating time or creating beings with mythological Mistborn abilities. What if he had that power? What would that change about him?
Nothing, he thought to himself. I’ve held that power. And when I had it, I used it to save my friends.

However, Sazed said to Kelsier that Kandra did manage to create Atium after replicating Wax's experiment, but I don't know if I trust Sazed's words at that moment because he clearly hides from Kelsier that Wax created Lerasium. Maybe you get Lerasium only when you don't want to change and you won't use god metals (Wax), Atium if you do want to use them to preserve (Kandra), but you get pikemetal if you do want to use god metals to ruin (the Set). TLM epilogue 4:

Quote

“The kandra found atium dust in Waxillium’s destroyed laboratory,” Sazed said. “It appears that if you detonate harmonium against trellium—or, I suppose bavadinium would be its true name—it creates some small amount of atium as a by-product.”
“Lerasium?” Kelsier asked.
“I’m sorry. That is all annihilated in the explosion. We’ve tested it several times now.”

 

Spoiler

Questioner

So, by the end of Era 2, we witness the greatest explosion ever caused by a man. From Wax’s experiments, we know that ettmetal can be split into lerasium and atium. Could this mean that the sea is now filled with lerasium? If so, could that somehow lead to the emergence of more Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

First, to get the god metals when it divides, you have to do something specific that Wax did and no one else has done. Simply causing the explosion, you will not get the god metals; you will get something we call *inaudible*, which you´ll see in Era 3. Wax did something different. No one in Era 3 knows what he managed to accomplish. He did not <try it again>, he thought it was too dangerous.

Footnote: The reporter believes the inaudible word was "pikemetal".
Celsius 232 2025 (July 15, 2025)

 

[Trutharchivist he/him]

Hmm. This WoB does seem to indicate it's about what Wax did, not Steris, so I suppose there goes my theory.