some weird thangs I noticed about aluminum

[chipofIsharsblade He/Him]

I think this is the correct forum to post this on.

 

I think that aluminum might be a form of pure investiture, not anti, or neutral investiture.

Spoiler

I just finished the bands of mourning and there's the scene where Wax thinks that the spearhead and belt are aluminum. of course it turns out that the spearhead is the super-unsealed metalmind.(the bands). 

from that, we know that highly invested metals act in the same way/very similarly to aluminum, which is supposed to be neutral or anti investiture.

We also know that ion Roshar, Sharblades and Shardplate block Shardblades. and we know that these items are made of a mixture of Tanavstium(honor's god metal) and Cultivation's god metal. it's also said that Raysium(Odium's god metal) can block a shardblade. and of course aluminum can also block Shardblades. this means that Roshar also has a case of aluminum acting in a similar way to highly invested materials/objects. 

PS

the things I mention here are just random things that are kinda related so I thought I'd throw them out.

1. we have not really seen pure investiture besides in the spiritual realm. (it's always filtered/shaped in some way)

2. we know that aluminum has some sort of magical property because Feruchemists can store identity in aluminum metalminds.

3. could aluminum be Adonalsium's god metal? (like the most pure form of magic.)

4. when Wax (and Marasi) picks up the bands it's described as some sort of ascension. this might just be because the modernised world hadn't seen such power before, but it could also be that the bands were so invested that they acted kind-of like a godmetal.

4.5/5. I think we have Wob's that Nightblood is basically a god metal because he is so invested.

6. do we know if Nightblood reacts to investiture?

7. is Trellium/Bavandium also some sort of anti/neutral investiture or is that just autonomy voodoo.

 

I would love to hear your thoughts!.

[Through the Living Hopper He/Him]

9 hours ago, chipofIsharsblade said:

3. could aluminum be Adonalsium's god metal? (like the most pure form of magic.)

A lot of people think so, but then there are downers who remind us that it's probably not. Adonalsium was completely Shattered.

This is the same as your original question. Probably not. I had this same idea, but it doesn't quite work. I think there's a WoB about this theory, Treamayne will probably find it.

[Nitpicking]

Soulcasters can make aluminum as easily as other normal metals, so ... No.

[Qianweilian He/him]

12 hours ago, chipofIsharsblade said:

do we know if Nightblood reacts to investiture?

If you're implying that Nightblood is made of aluminum, it is not. Nightblood is made of steel. Like any other highly invested object, Nightblood is incredibly difficult to affect with investiture.

12 hours ago, chipofIsharsblade said:

7. is Trellium/Bavandium also some sort of anti/neutral investiture or is that just autonomy voodoo.

Bavadinium is Autonomy's god metal. As far as I'm aware, Trellium is Bavadinium.

[PanLin they/he]

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

1. we have not really seen pure investiture besides in the spiritual realm. (it's always filtered/shaped in some way)

Imo this goes against your theory—all Investiture is keyed to a Shard when it leaves the spriritual realm.

Burning steel and iron still lets one see metalminds, and they can even push/pull them with enough Investiture. Aluminum is just straight up invisible and immune, which matches its allomantic and hemalurgic effects.

 

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

2. we know that aluminum has some sort of magical property because Feruchemists can store identity in aluminum metalminds.

Does that mean nicrosil has innate magical properties because it can store Investiture?

 

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

3. could aluminum be Adonalsium's god metal? (like the most pure form of magic.)

If it were, Preservation likely wouldn't have included it as a 'normal' metal in allomancy, unless we're being lied to about the allomantic metals again, like with Atium, Malatium, Nalatium and Lerasium (although its appearance in both feruchemy and hemalurgy implies our current 16-metal model is the correct one).

Plus, as others have mentioned, when a Shard is shattered or merged, the godmetal associated with that Shard stops naturally occurring and can only be synthesised via Invested means.

 

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

4. when Wax (and Marasi) picks up the bands it's described as some sort of ascension. this might just be because the modernised world hadn't seen such power before, but it could also be that the bands were so invested that they acted kind-of like a godmetal.

They were wildly Invested, yes. Not sure what you mean about them acting like a godmetal though?

 

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

4.5/5. I think we have Wob's that Nightblood is basically a god metal because he is so invested.

I don't recall this one but would love to be corrected—ping me if you find it!

My understanding is that godmetals are the physical manifestation of a Shard's Investiture; concentrating a bunch of Investiture in one place creates power and effects comparable to a godmetal, but doesn't spontaneously create one. WoB:

Spoiler

Cognizantastic

As I understand it, Nightblood is most comparable to a Shardblade. However, unlike a Shardblade, Nightblood requires constant input of Investiture in order to realize his full destructive potential. Why is this?

Brandon Sanderson

Vasher kind of hacked in order to imitate another magic system. Shardblades are organic parts of the world they are on, but Nightblood is a bunch of souls stuffed into something. Nightblood is like a Frankenstein.

San Diego Comic-Con 2015 (July 9, 2015)

 

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

6. do we know if Nightblood reacts to investiture?

Yes, they consume it. They're also kept in an aluminum sheath specifically because the aluminum blocks that effect. If aluminum were invested, Nightblood should simply be able to consume that too.

 

On 5/18/2026 at 4:20 AM, chipofIsharsblade said:

7. is Trellium/Bavandium also some sort of anti/neutral investiture or is that just autonomy voodoo.

They're both names for Autonomy's godmetal. Trellium is just named after a particular avatar of Autonomy (I don't know if that means it has different properties to 'true' Bavadinium, but I suspect not).

Edited May 26 by PanLin

[Trusk'our he/him]

On 5/19/2026 at 7:01 AM, PanLin said:

I don't recall this one but would love to be corrected—ping me if you find it!

I believe this is the one: 

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/498-youtube-spoiler-stream-4/#e15706

Kael_the_Adventurer

Did Nightblood's Awakening transform it into a God Metal?

Brandon Sanderson

*hesitant* Yes, you could say that.

Adam Horne

Was that a permanent change, or was that just while...

Brandon Sanderson

You can argue that Nightblood is a God Metal. Is he? You could argue otherwise as well. How about that?

 

On 5/19/2026 at 7:01 AM, PanLin said:

They were wildly Invested, yes. Not sure what you mean about them acting like a godmetal though?

 

They were pretty Invested compared to the typical Metalmind, but less Invested than other powerful artifacts, like Shardblades. 

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/13-calamity-austin-signing/#e4878

Questioner

You've said that Shardblades can be made in other magic systems. So if it's not like a Shardblade from Roshar, what makes it a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

The "Shard" refers to the heavy Investiture of a Shard of Adonalsium. Most of what you’ll see will see are the Roshar ones, but it is technically possible to make them out of the other magic systems. It's going to be a heavily invested magical weapon, is kind of how I would define it.

Questioner

So are the Bands [of Mourning] one?

Brandon Sanderson

I would not call them one, but they are close. They're not Invested enough.

Though it's my believe that they do make the user far more Invested than with what they could innately contain, as they grant not only Feruchemy, but LR level Allomancy, which draws directly from the SR. Enough so that the user actually leaks Mist (though we don't have a good measuring stick for how much that is).