Mistborn Shardblade

[rock soup]

Hi guys Im new here but been floating through reading all the theories for a long time.

Met Brandon years ago when he visited Melbourne, Australia and bombarded him with questions and really hooked the cosmere addiction deep so here I am.

Wanted to run a question by you.

Mistborn is stabbed by a shardblade.

Now its been confirmed that you dont need to ingest a metal to burn it, so my theory is could the Mistborn flare the metal of the blade as it enters and essentially hurl himself into the spiritual realm like Elend did with his Atium/Duralinum? Essentially using a highly invested god-metal (could be wrong but Im fairly certain a shardblade could be counted as god-metal).

Now I know the quantity of metal doesnt really work so lets just say its a shardblade rapier like Yasnah uses and only just the tip (hehehe). Just to avoid that argument.

[teknopathetic he/him]

Likely the Mistborn wouldn't be powerful enough to burn an Invested Metal. Magically Invested Materials have strong resistances to other types of magic use. So even if a blade could be burned, and that is a big if, it seems unlikely that any mistborn would be able to do so. 

Perhaps the Lord Ruler would have been able to do so (since he was a Splinter Sliver and was incredibly knowledgeable and powerful). We still have no proof that Shardblades can be used for the metallic arts. I am not even sure we can consider a shardblade to be 'metal' in the strictest sense. 

Edited February 10, 2017 by teknopathetic

[Spoolofwhool]

@teknopathetic TLR was a sliver, not a splinter. Slivers are people who have held and released a large portion of power, splinters are sentient pieces of investiture. 

[teknopathetic he/him]

Just now, Spoolofwhool said:

@teknopathetic TLR was a sliver, not a splinter. Slivers are people who have held and released a large portion of power, splinters are sentient pieces of investiture. 

Oops, my bad. 

[Weltall]

Welcome to the Shard!

Brandon was asked about the possible application of Shardblades to another one of the Metallic Arts and his comment there seems like it would be relevant. He was asked if you could turn a Blade into a hemalurgic spike (which we know can be done with a regular sword, per Hero of Ages) and he said that while it's theoretically possible, a Shardblade would probably be too 'full' with Investiture already and so you couldn't fit a hemalurgic charge into it. That means that it's probably so full with Ivestiture (of a completely different Shard) that a Mistborn couldn't burn it, even assuming for purposes of argument that they could burn the godmetal of another Shard without some sort of hack. And we know from another interview that Shardblades are one of the hardest things to push or pull with Allomancy so they would probably be very resistant to burning anyways.

[rock soup]

Thanks for the answer guys and gals!

[king of nowhere]

also, does a shardblade count as allomantic metal? or will the mistborn get sick for trying to burn it? and what will happpen to the partially burned spren anyway?

[rock soup]

Oh good one! I didnt think of what effect that would have on the spren? 

I wonder if the Mistborn would hear it scream like a Radiant who holds a "dead" blade?

[teknopathetic he/him]

On 2/10/2017 at 10:39 AM, rock soup said:

Oh good one! I didnt think of what effect that would have on the spren? 

I wonder if the Mistborn would hear it scream like a Radiant who holds a "dead" blade?

I think burning shardblades might be the most humane thing people could do for the "screaming" shardblades. I would love to see the Stormfather demand the Tortured Spren be euthanized. 

Edited February 10, 2017 by teknopathetic

[Left he/him]

I don't see how the amount of investure in a shardblade makes a difference when it comes to burning it. When you burn s metal you're effectively opening a cognitive/spiritual door to let investure flow through you. The molecular design of the metal determines the shape of the door, similar to how Aeons work. (I hope I'm remembering WoB here and not speculation). 

Highly invested metal minds can be burned easily. As long as it is metal it should metal it should theoretically be burnable by a mistborn. There might not be any effect though, much like when Vin burned sazed's metalmind. Or it might do something crazy. It being invested should make no difference. 

Let me put it this way. 

Powerfully invested objects are highly resistant to other investure affecting it. That's why it's very difficult to push/pull/surgebind on spikes and shards. Burning an invested object isn't forcing investiture on the object, it's letting power run through the object into the user. When it's a metal mind you get compounding effects. We still haven't seen what burning a spike, dor invested object, awakened object, or a shard would do, but i think it will do Something. 

[Itchy Savant he/him]

We know you could burn a pike but it would have negative implications.

I agree, the amout of investiture shouldn't affect if it's burnable but it might not be compatible with metallic arts due to not being connected harmony/ruin/preservation. The fact the investiture is partially "alive" or sapient might actually be the biggest barrier there.

[rock soup]

I just remembered the problem of identity though.

Vin tried to burn Sazeds coppermind. She could sense the power but she couldnt tap it.

This might apply to shardblades as well since the Spren and the Radiant would be invested in the blade giving its own identity. 

Unless said Radiant was a feruchemist and removed its identity I dont think it would be possible. 

Compounders burn invested metal. But only their own.