SylphrenaHonorSpren Posted February 2, 2017 Posted February 2, 2017 How did Identity and Investiture work in relation to the Bands of Mourning? I loved the book, but I was really confused about just how the ending was achieved. This is the one place where the allomancy didn't make sense to me. And was it ever confirmed that this was the same power that Lord Ruler had in his bracers?
Kingsdaughter613 she/her Posted February 2, 2017 Posted February 2, 2017 They weren't TLR's bands. It was Kelsier's spearhead. They were created by storing identity and investiture. How Kelsier came back... Good question! When he became a feruchemist... Even better! The Survivor/Sovereign has managed to confuse us all.
Jofwu he/him Posted February 2, 2017 Posted February 2, 2017 (edited) Aluminum Feruchemy allows you to store Identity in an aluminummind. Metalminds are normally "keyed" to their creator by Identity. Nobody can use my metalminds because they don't have my identity. But say a person has two Feruchemical powers. If he stores Identity while storing the other power, that other metalmind won't be "keyed" to a specific Identity. Now anybody can use it. So that's the first part. The Bands of Mourning were created while the creator stored Identity in a piece of aluminum. The result is that anybody can use the Bands... if they have the power to do so. That's a big IF. Take the "unkeyed" goldmind that Wayne was making use of. Only Wayne could use it, because he is a gold Ferring. Wax couldn't use it because he isn't one. This is where nicrosil comes in. When it says that nicrosil Ferrings store Investiture, what that means is apparently that they can store their ability to perform Allomancy/Feruchemy. So, a nicrosil Ferring can essentially store his very ability to be a nicrosil Ferring. On it's own, this isn't very useful. BUT if he can do this while storing Identity, he can make a metalmind that others can use/draw from. AND if he has other powers, he can stores those as well. The Bands of Mourning were a melding of unkeyed metalminds (so anyone can use them, if they have the ability) INCLUDING nicrosilminds for all of the powers. This enables somebody to tap the ability to do X magic in the first place.... And then to make use of the associated X metalmind, or to swallow and burn the associated X metal. Make sense? Nicrosil Feruchemy (dealing with Investiture) is something we don't super understand at this point. So it's not surprising you're confused. Most of what we know is buried in the details or is straight from Brandon. The weirdest thing in all of this is... how do you tap a nicrosilmind if you don't have the ability? (even if it is unkeyed) We don't really know. Apparently it's just... allowed in that case. (edit: apparently this is wrong! See below.) Edited February 3, 2017 by jofwu 2
Spoolofwhool Posted February 2, 2017 Posted February 2, 2017 (edited) @jofwu got the main meat of it, except left out one detail and added an inaccuracy. Nicrosil metalminds normally cannot be tapped by anyone. Like all other unkeyed metalminds, they can still only be tapped by those who have the power to tap and store nicrosil, soulbearer ferrings. However, the Southerners and the Sovereign who created the Bands of Mourning know a process which makes it possible for a non-soulbearer to tap a nicrosilmind, therefore gaining access to the powers it stores and granting the user the ability to tap the other metalminds of the Bands as well as burn any of the sixteen base metals. This is the same way that a medallion is formed. Edited February 2, 2017 by Spoolofwhool 1
SylphrenaHonorSpren Posted February 2, 2017 Author Posted February 2, 2017 Wow, no wonder it didn't make sense when I read it! It sounds like everything is far more complex than just what the book holds.
Andy92 Posted February 3, 2017 Posted February 3, 2017 I feel like Investiture is explained in the Ars Arcanum of the book as "this metal stores Investiture, we don't really know what that means" lol. I think all you really need to know is that you can use Investiture and Identify in unison to create metal minds that can be accessed by other people. I don't really worry about the details beyond that personally. 1
Jofwu he/him Posted February 3, 2017 Posted February 3, 2017 @Spoolofwhool , thanks for the correction. 44 minutes ago, SylphrenaHonorSpren said: Wow, no wonder it didn't make sense when I read it! It sounds like everything is far more complex than just what the book holds. Yeah! I've read it twice and been all over the fan sites, and I still don't have it down perfect apparently. Then you throw in the crazy "Allomantic grenade" tech, and everything else involving ettmetal... BoM scratched the surface of a LOT of new magic stuff! 1
Spoolofwhool Posted February 3, 2017 Posted February 3, 2017 2 hours ago, Andy92 said: I feel like Investiture is explained in the Ars Arcanum of the book as "this metal stores Investiture, we don't really know what that means" lol. I think all you really need to know is that you can use Investiture and Identify in unison to create metal minds that can be accessed by other people. I don't really worry about the details beyond that personally. Yeah, Ars Arcanum isn't that clear. Just goes to show, that if Khriss doesn't really know what's up, then no one really knows. 1
Weltall Posted February 4, 2017 Posted February 4, 2017 No doubt the Ars Arcanum for Era 3 or 4 Mistborn will have a lot more information. And maybe a margin note by Khriss that she's had to keep coming back to Scadrial for centuries because the people there keep making breakthroughs in their understanding of their Investiture and/or figure out more crazy things they can do with their powers. I imagine Khriss is drawn to Scadrial for its research potential almost as much as Hoid is because he wants those instant noodles.
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