Releasing Atium

[Oudeis]

Before I get to the main point I'm planning to discuss in this thread, I would appreciate if someone could clarify something for me...

I know that atium was the physical body of Ruin. We know that the mist, the lerasium, and the fluid in the Well were all of Preservation; were all three aspects of his physical body? Or were they each his physical, spiritual, and cognitive aspects? I realize that it's easy to assume that the three things corrolate to the three things, but do we know for sure one way or the other?

I know that the 'prison' for Ruin was made of Leras's consciousness; does that mean the liquid was his consciousness? Or was the liquid a specific incarnation of his power, the "key" to the lock, rather than the cage itself?

[WeiryWriter]

In my opinion the mists, well, and metal represent his spiritual, cognitive, and physical aspects in a symbolic way but since they all exist in the Physical Realm they are all actually part of his physical aspect.

The liquid was part of Preservation's power, not his consciousness and served as the key to the lock.

[Chicken]

They're all physical aspects, and even the same material far as I understand. If you melted and boiled Atium you'd get the black fog Vin saw when going to Well and if you froze the liquid from Well you'd get another nugget like Elend ate. Cognitive aspect is on whole planet, which is why Ruin and Preservation can see everywhere and hear everything. I have no idea what/where Spiritual aspects are though.

[WeiryWriter]

The spiritual aspect of a Shard consists of the power that isn't currently bound in physical form, which is the bulk of it if I understand correctly. The cognitive aspect would be Leras/Ati/Vin, the mind controlling the power. I do not believe they can see/hear everywhere all the time, they can only focus on one area at a time, but that place can be anywhere.

[Oudeis]

Kay, so we agree that the liquid in the pool is, if not the same thing as the lerasium, strongly related.

Here's my question, and I realize the obvious and probably correct answer is a resounding, 'NO' but I think it's interesting to ponder anyway. When Vin took the power at the Well, she could use it, and she even compared it to Allomancy like burning metals, or she could release it.

What if you can do that with atium?

I realize that the liquid was a very specific mechanism that Leras himself set up and so it had very specific, idiosyncratic rules, and operated very differently from normal scenarios. But what if there's another option for how an Allomancer can interact with a metal?

What if you can burn a metal, at least a God metal, OR release it?

I don't know if it's an option for every single metal, although it would open up a lot of speculation if it was. But think about it. Burning a metal is the easiest, most natural thing to do. It's an incredibly instinctive process. Why would anyone decide to try something else? Even when Vin was at the Well, using the power felt like the natural thing to do; would she have even suspected that 'giving it up' was an option if she hadn't heard the prophecies?

But just because one thing is obvious, does that mean there are no other options? Are there ways for an Allomancer to interact with a metal beyond burning it?

Again, this is a special case because the Well of Ascension was established for a specific purpose with a specific set of triggers, so I assume that in canon, there are no other options. BUT. Hypothetically, if there were a way to eat a bead of atium and then release it rather than burning it, what do you think would happen?

[Voidus]

Well 'releasing it' might just be the same as not burning it in the case of metals, which obviously just means it'll get digested but it's also possible that the power could just get returned to Ruin.

[dj26792]

The well of ascension is a shardpool and operates under separate rules to metals, Atiums counterpart is leresium and is essentially another allomantic metal, just more powerful and few other things not relevant here. Ruin does have a shardpool that is a counterpart to the well, at the Pits. This power could be taken up and then used or released, and is a direct counterpart to the Well.

[Djando Je]

where did you hear that Ruin had a Well the Pits?

[Voidus]

CHAOS

Does Ruin have a pool, similar to Preservation's pool with the Well of Ascension and Skai's pool in Elantris?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes. His pool is the pits.

From the interview database: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=691 Question 15

[Vortaan]

So, speculation time... I think that the substance that the Well contained and Lerasium are very different in what you can actually accomplish with them, although to Vin both felt very similar.

We know that Leras sacrificed the greater part of his cognitive aspect in order to create Ruin's trap. That means that the liquid in the Well, the power holding Ruin at bay, is likely the cognitive aspect of Preservation manifested onto the physical realm. While very similar to Lerasium in that regard, it is a cognitive, not a spiritual force, and the actual effects of using it is probably that it gives a temporary connection to the spiritual aspect of Preservation, where the majority of it's power lies.

Now look at Lerasium. I believe that it is the spiritual aspect of Preservation manifested in the physical realm. It's effects are certainly more prolific that using the Well, since the relative ease of Snapping is the direct result of just a few beads of Lerasium being consumed by a few men. It's effects also seem to cause a connection to Preservation's spiritual aspect, but in a very limited way, accessing the power in a way that is acceptable within the confines of the current magic system (Allomancy), although enhancing it beyond the normal rules (Mistborn).

If we look at both these substances, it doesn't seem like you would be able to release atium, since it is solidified spiritual aspect, not solidified cognitive aspect. If you could, I suspect the effects would be extremely minor since each bead is such a small percentage of the overall power, whereas the Well contained a majority of one aspect of a Shard.

[Oudeis]

Minor point: They called Atium the "body" of Ruin often enough that I'd suspect it was his physical aspect (and that lerasium was Preservation's physical aspect) rather than spiritual.

The other thought... I'm not so sure I buy the idea that spiritual aspects CAN manifest physically. Have we seen anything do that anywhere else in the cosmere? My alternate hypothesis is that lerasium, the Well, and the mist are the three states of being, and ALL of them are his body, his physical aspect. And that therefore, since you can "release" liquid lerasium, you should be able to "release" solid lerasium, and if so, why not solid atium?

Do we all agree that the "mist creature" was Preservation's cognitive aspect? And as we've seen, the creature itself was never technically visible. The only time it could be percieved, and even then only with difficulty, was when the mist swirled around it; when the cognitive aspect interacted with the physical aspect, his body.

Speculation, I admit. If anyone can find anything to disprove my ideas, please let me know.

[FlashWrogan]

KAIMIPONO (16 OCTOBER 2008)

Allomancy is fueled by Preservation's body? How exactly does that work? And how does that interact with Atium—it's fueled by both gods' bodies?

BRANDON SANDERSON (17 OCTOBER 2008)

The powers of Ruin and Preservation are Shards of Adonalsium, pieces of the power of creation itself. Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them. These metallic powers are how people's physical forms interpret the use of the Shard, though it's not the only possible way they could be interpreted or used. It's what the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for, and has to do with the Spiritual, the Cognitive, and the Physical Realms.

Condensed 'essence' of these godly powers can act as super-fuel for Allomancy, Feruchemy, or really any of the powers. The form of that super fuel is important. In liquid form it's most potent, in gas form it's able to fuel Allomancy as if working as a metal. In physical form it is rigid and does one specific thing. In the case of atium, it allows sight into the future. In the case of concentrated Preservation, it gives one a permanent connection to the mists and the powers of creation. (I.e., it makes them an Allomancer.)

So when a person is burning metals, they aren't using Preservation's body as a fuel so to speak—though they are tapping into the powers of creation just slightly. When Vin burns the mists, however, she'd doing just that—using the essence of Preservation, the Shard of Adonalsium itself—to fuel Allomancy. Doing this, however, rips 'troughs' through her body. It's like forcing far too much pressure through a very small, fragile hose. That much power eventually vaporizes the corporeal host, which is acting as the block and forcing the power into a single type of conduit (Allomancy) and frees it to be more expansive.

Source

You, sir, have been quoted.

[Millennium]

Minor point: They called Atium the "body" of Ruin often enough that I'd suspect it was his physical aspect (and that lerasium was Preservation's physical aspect) rather than spiritual.

I believe that Brandon has actually stated that outright: the metals correspond to the Physical aspects.

The other thought... I'm not so sure I buy the idea that spiritual aspects CAN manifest physically. Have we seen anything do that anywhere else in the cosmere?

My theory is that we actually have seen it, but wouldn't have noticed, because for most things, their three aspects manifest in the same object. Hold a stone, and you hold not just its Physical aspect, but its Spiritual and Cognitive aspects as well. Part of what makes Shards unique, then, is that their aspects do not manifest in the same object. Instead, they're broken into parts: you might say they've been shattered.