aluminum vs. silver

[Numuhukumakiakiaialunamore]

sooooo in mistborn its mentioned when Vin is Yomens captive that silver is allomatically inert, and im re reading the mistborn ear 2 books to follow up for any mention of silver there. In shadows for silence in the forest of hell silver is able to cure withering and repel the cognitive shadows. i find it odd that in one world its inert but in other has a effect Im ifinishing a 10 hour shift right now but thats the best i can phrase it.

[Calderis he/him]

Silver is allomantically inert, so it doesn't provide an allomantic (or feruchemical or hemalurgic) effect. It is still a metal though, and although we haven't been told why we know that metal is Cosmere significant, not just to Scadrial. 

Tin was originally silver in the Mistborn series (Silvereye is way cooler sounding than Tineye) because Brandon thought pewter was alloyed with silver primarily and not tin. He changed it when he found out that he was wrong. 

Silver can still be used as an anchor, it's inert not invisible like aluminum. Because of the Metallic Arts, we have a tendency to assume all metal is either allomantic or magically worthless. This reasoning is flawed though. 

Almost every item we see of magical significance is made of metal. Shardblades, Nightblood, soulcasters. Knowing that metal is Cosmere significant, it shouldn't be surprising that silver has an effect in a non-scadrian system. 

[+Extesian he/him]

This is a recent WoB on it, doesn't give too much but it's something. 

Quote

Q: In Mistborn, silver doesn’t play a role. But then in Shadows for Silence, silver does play a role...
A: It does. I still wanted silver to be part of the Cosmere.
Q: But we’ll never see it in Scadrial?
A: It does not, as they understand currently, interact with Allomancy, with the three Metallurgic Arts. Silver does have a Cosmere role.

 

[Yata he/him]

Like other said, Silver is allomantically inert as (allomantically useless) like platinum and other dozen of metals.

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

On ‎8‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 0:06 AM, Calderis said:

Silver can still be used as an anchor, it's inert not invisible like aluminum. Because of the Metallic Arts, we have a tendency to assume all metal is either allomantic or magically worthless. This reasoning is flawed though. 

 

 

 

SPOILERS FOR MISTBORN SECRET HISTORY

Spoiler

I wonder if this is how Kelsier is anchoring his cognitive shadow to a body. Perhaps his body has a silver spike in its eye so he can stay cooped up inside. It would be neat if Silver could allomantically fiddle with Cognitive Shadows.

 

[Calderis he/him]

7 minutes ago, theuntaintedchild said:

 

 

SPOILERS FOR MISTBORN SECRET HISTORY

  Reveal hidden contents

I wonder if this is how Kelsier is anchoring his cognitive shadow to a body. Perhaps his body has a silver spike in its eye so he can stay cooped up inside. It would be neat if Silver could allomantically fiddle with Cognitive Shadows.

 

Unfortunately I do have to disagree here. 

The Metallic Arts are interconnected. For silver to be hemalurgically viable, it would also have a feruchemical and allomantic effect. 

[theuntaintedchild he/him]

The final part of this WoB answers that issue.

On ‎8‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 11:10 PM, Extesian said:

A: It does not, as they understand currently, interact with Allomancy, with the three Metallurgic Arts. Silver does have a Cosmere role

I agree that in order to work with Hemalurgy it would have to work with the others as well. I'm saying it may be how this little trick is being pulled off. It's just that no one knows yet that it's capable of doing this.

Spoiler

So few people on Scadrial have much understanding of cognitive shadows. The experiment would be for Sazed get an allomancer  to burn, or a ferchemist to wear silver and then see what effects it has on their cognitive shadow. If Sazed can even see cognitive shadows of people who are still among the living. Maybe silver can only be burned by a cognitive shadow. It's all goofy speculation on my part. I'm still betting heavily that the identity based metal is what kelsier is actually using to anchor himself.

 

[FiveLate]

On 8/25/2017 at 11:10 PM, Extesian said:

This is a recent WoB on it, doesn't give too much but it's something. 

 

 

On 8/25/2017 at 11:10 PM, Extesian said:

Quote

Q: In Mistborn, silver doesn’t play a role. But then in Shadows for Silence, silver does play a role...
A: It does. I still wanted silver to be part of the Cosmere.
Q: But we’ll never see it in Scadrial?
A: It does not, as they understand currently, interact with Allomancy, with the three Metallurgic Arts. Silver does have a Cosmere role.

I find the use of the word currenty, very WOBbit hole invoking.  

[Yata he/him]

On 30/8/2017 at 3:00 PM, FiveLate said:

 

I find the use of the word currenty, very WOBbit hole invoking.  

Depending on the WoB's time and context the "silver's role" in Metallic Arts could be simply be part of an avaliable Alloy (Electrum)