Allomancy: Atium, Malatium, and Lerasium

[Zan Zhro he/him]

Hey, so I've read the Mistborn books up until Bands of Mourning, and have a fairly simple question. Because of the adverse effects of Atium, Malatium, and Lerasium, should I consider Atium and Malatium to be allloys, if that makes sense? All metals seem to have some kind of opposite effect from their counterpart, but from many of the charts I've seen, they match up Atium and Lerasium instead of Atium and Malatium, which I don't understand because I don't really see a correlation between seeing into the future a few seconds and becoming a Mistborn/ Misting. 

Someone wanna clear the air for me?

[KnightRadiant she/her]

Could you clarify your question? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. Are you asking why atium and lerasium are paired together?

[Zan Zhro he/him]

@KnightRadiant  Sure, sorry for being a bit confusing. Yes, that is what I'm asking. It confused me that Malatium was never really mentioned after FE. Keep in mind, still reading BoM.

[Dunkum he/him]

The short version is that Atium and Lerasium aren't normal metals: they are sort of solidified versions of Ruin and Preservation's powers respectively.  This is why they get paired together, Atium is basically pure Ruin, Lerasium is basically pure Preservation.  Malatium is an alloy of Atium and Gold.  it has been suggested that alloys of Atium and any other allomantic metal would also be viable for allomancy, with different effects.   likewise alloys of Lerasium and other metals would be burnable (and someone who is already a mistborn and tried to burn Lerasium would also have some kind of effect, though I don't think we know what). 

[KnightRadiant she/her]

Both atium and lerasium are the bodies of gods/Shards condensed into physical form, known as god metals. This is why they are paired together.

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DARXBANE (17 OCTOBER 2008)

Did we already find out what metal is combined with Atium to make Malatium?

BRANDON SANDERSON (17 OCTOBER 2008)

I might have said somewhere in the series. I can't remember. It's gold.

Malatium is an alloy of atium, but from the Ars Arcanum we know that god metals can be alloyed with all of the metals to create even more than just the sixteen. Millions of possibilities.

Does this help?

[Zan Zhro he/him]

@Dunkum @KnightRadiant  Yes! It all makes so much more sense now! Thanks for the clarifications. 

5 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

The short version is that Atium and Lerasium aren't normal metals: they are sort of solidified versions of Ruin and Preservation's powers respectively.  This is why they get paired together, Atium is basically pure Ruin, Lerasium is basically pure Preservation.  Malatium is an alloy of Atium and Gold.  it has been suggested that alloys of Atium and any other allomantic metal would also be viable for allomancy, with different effects.   likewise alloys of Lerasium and other metals would be burnable (and someone who is already a mistborn and tried to burn Lerasium would also have some kind of effect, though I don't think we know what). 

 

4 minutes ago, KnightRadiant said:

Both atium and lerasium are the bodies of gods/Shards condensed into physical form, known as god metals. This is why they are paired together.

Malatium is an alloy of atium, but from the Ars Arcanum we know that god metals can be alloyed with all of the metals to create even more than just the sixteen. Millions of possibilities.

Does this help?

 

[dead-moth she/her]

ok wait i'm going to be supremely unhelpful here and ask a question but like ...... atium and lerasium alloys are supposed to make a wholly different set of metals, right? why the DEVIL is malatium (gold/atium) on the normal set??? shouldn't there be a different alloy of gold somewhere?

[Spoolofwhool]

11 minutes ago, dead-moth said:

ok wait i'm going to be supremely unhelpful here and ask a question but like ...... atium and lerasium alloys are supposed to make a wholly different set of metals, right? why the DEVIL is malatium (gold/atium) on the normal set??? shouldn't there be a different alloy of gold somewhere?

In the original Ars Arcanum of TFE? It's because the Ars Arcanum is based on in-world knowledge, not true knowledge. As such, because in-world it was considered to the characters to be one of the main metals, so it was with them.

[dead-moth she/her]

Just now, Spoolofwhool said:

In the original Ars Arcanum of TFE? It's because the Ars Arcanum is based on in-world knowledge, not true knowledge. As such, because in-world it was considered to the characters to be one of the main metals, so it was with them.

right, right. 

 

 

 

aaaaaand I totally forgot that electrum existed. pay me no attention, i am a sleep deprived college student