Which aether did Mraize soil himself with?

[+Oltux72 he/him]

So he got it onto his pants. I would say that this makes it likely to be Amberite. But is this the only possibility? Which aether could he have on display? How do the ethers of the first generation actually look like and how are they propagated?

[dbulick]

Most likely it is an Amberite Aether.  That is one that would allow the person that has bonded it to grow crystals of varying sizes(depending on the strength) to create weapons or armor.  As far as how first generation versus later ones, I am not sure there is any difference.  They are propagated by carefully splitting the gem and implanting it in a new host.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

2 hours ago, dbulick said:

Most likely it is an Amberite Aether.  That is one that would allow the person that has bonded it to grow crystals of varying sizes(depending on the strength) to create weapons or armor.  As far as how first generation versus later ones, I am not sure there is any difference.  They are propagated by carefully splitting the gem and implanting it in a new host.

I mean Bestarian and Ferrous. How do they look? No physical description comes to my mind. You can split a crystal. But the third generation is propagated in yet another manner.

[dbulick]

Ah, it was my understanding that when you split the cyrstal it grows back.  Then all subsequent generations are created the same way.

[Weltall]

You would be correct, the Amberite crystal regrows after it's damaged. Just after she takes the bud, D'Naa thinks to herself that Raeth's crystal will grow back in a couple of months.

Since Mraize's trophy room contains what's obviously meant to be a chunk of Amberite, it's the only aether we have any reason to suspect as the source of the stain so absent any new information we can be safe in assuming it's the source.

1 hour ago, Oltux72 said:

I mean Bestarian and Ferrous. How do they look? No physical description comes to my mind.

They're never described. We see the obvious physical manifestations of Bestarian bonds and those Ferrous who have become Corpates but we don't know what the aethers themselves are like. Raeth does at once point think that women were allowed to bond those aethers (but not Amberite or Verdant) so there must be a physical component they bond to, but we don't know what they look like. Since those bonds are transformative, it's likely the aether itself is enbedded in the chest somewhere and we're never given a good look at it, unlike the more obvious hand/wrist bonding points for Amberite and Verdant respectively.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Weltall

[Landis963 he/him]

Aether is also the name for a clear, yet sweet-smelling chemical that is known to be flammable. Stormlight spoilers ahoy:

Spoiler

I suspect it was Mraize's way of getting the washerwoman in the scene out of the room so he could chat up the Herald, as chemical aether would leave no worse a stain than water.  

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Landis963
Spoilers

[luluzulu she/her]

On 2/17/2019 at 9:41 PM, Landis963 said:

Aether is also the name for a clear, yet sweet-smelling chemical that is known to be flammable. Stormlight spoilers ahoy:

  Hide contents

I suspect it was Mraize's way of getting the washerwoman in the scene out of the room so he could chat up the Herald, as chemical aether would leave no worse a stain than water.  

 

^^ I agree, while it's odd since we know of aether as a component in a system of investiture, it makes more sense for it to be the chemical rather than the.....mineral? Whatever an aether is. How would a crystal even cause a stain in the first place?

[Scion of the Mists]

On 3/18/2019 at 7:00 PM, luluzulu said:

^^ I agree, while it's odd since we know of aether as a component in a system of investiture, it makes more sense for it to be the chemical rather than the.....mineral? Whatever an aether is. How would a crystal even cause a stain in the first place?

Well we know for sure that he has an actual Aether crystal - Brandon's confirmed it.  Not sure how that'd leave a stain, especially since he can't use it.  

[luluzulu she/her]

On 3/20/2019 at 6:47 AM, Scion of the Mists said:

Well we know for sure that he has an actual Aether crystal - Brandon's confirmed it.  Not sure how that'd leave a stain, especially since he can't use it.  

Exactly, I doubt he would even really have incentive to take it out of its case. What's he gonna do, lick it?

[+Invocation]

On 3/20/2019 at 8:47 AM, Scion of the Mists said:

Well we know for sure that he has an actual Aether crystal - Brandon's confirmed it.  Not sure how that'd leave a stain, especially since he can't use it.  

 

1 hour ago, luluzulu said:

Exactly, I doubt he would even really have incentive to take it out of its case. What's he gonna do, lick it?

He might have gotten the stain while acquiring the aether(s) he has. Isn't Night mostly liquid, and doesn't Amberite/Verdant contact result in a liquidation effect?

Edited March 22, 2019 by Invocation

[luluzulu she/her]

On 3/21/2019 at 5:29 PM, Invocation said:

He might have gotten the stain while acquiring the aether(s) he has. Isn't Night mostly liquid, and doesn't Amberite/Verdant contact result in a liquidation effect?

You may be right, I honestly don't remember

[Sariel he/him]

Night and Luminous are liquids, but I don't think they exist after the events of AotN. Abmerite contacting Verdant result in both becoming dust, I think. I tend to think the aether on Mraize's pants wasn't one from AotN, but it's basically a guess.

[Karger he/him]

We have seen liquid Aethers before.  Also I doubt we know all the Aethers(we only saw 7 during the book).

[Agent34]

On 6/1/2019 at 2:11 AM, Karger said:

We have seen liquid Aethers before.  Also I doubt we know all the Aethers(we only saw 7 during the book).

We saw 7? I can only count 6

[Karger he/him]

On 6/8/2019 at 5:56 AM, Agent34 said:

We saw 7? I can only count 6

You may be right.  I just thought we saw 7 but either way the point is moot.  We have no evidence that we have seen all of them.

[Weltall]

On 3/31/2019 at 6:36 AM, Sariel said:

Night and Luminous are liquids, but I don't think they exist after the events of AotN. Abmerite contacting Verdant result in both becoming dust, I think. I tend to think the aether on Mraize's pants wasn't one from AotN, but it's basically a guess.

We can't really assume timeline or that the end of the existing story remains canon, but for sake of discussion let's say they do and everything in Aether still holds more or less. Illuminous and Night were given to humanity by the Fell Twins. Those powers may not have been accessible to anyone at the end of the book but the Twins ended up freed (in a hook for a sequel that will never happen) so they could presumably recreate the powers if they chose to..

On 6/10/2019 at 6:07 PM, Karger said:

You may be right.  I just thought we saw 7 but either way the point is moot.  We have no evidence that we have seen all of them.

It was six and within the context of the story that's all there are (the Former discusses it and he'd know better than anyone) but from an out of universe perspective we know that Brandon had plans for other aethers (involving flying magic) so it's entirely possible that the stain came from one that he created after Aether of Night and which we simply don't know about yet.

Actually, I suppose we do have a seventh named Aether via Liar of Partinel, but we have no clue what it was supposed to do and it's entirely possible it was a renamed and reworked Night.

[ShardShaper he/him]

On 6/24/2019 at 1:11 PM, Weltall said:

Actually, I suppose we do have a seventh named Aether via Liar of Partinel, but we have no clue what it was supposed to do and it's entirely possible it was a renamed and reworked Night.

Where?

[Weltall]

On 7/20/2019 at 11:35 AM, ShardShaper said:

Where?

Ummm, it's right there in my comment: The Liar of Partinel, the unpublished origin story for Hoid set some time before Dragonsteel. Brandon shared a draft of the first few chapters and while they're currently unavailable due to some backend stuff on the website, they should become available again at some point. At a couple points in the draft it's mentioned that the people of the city of Partinel have an aether named 'Duskr'. We don't know exactly what it would normally do (just as we don't see the story's one Amberite user actually do anything obvious with their aether aside from holding a conversation with it) but the name sounds similar to 'Dusk' which then leads to 'Night' by association and is where I got the idea that it might have been an intended reworking of the latter.

Of course it's an unpublished work and subject to massive revision before it's finally released (just like Aether of Night itself) but still, it's a seventh name.

Edited July 22, 2019 by Weltall

[IAmTheStick]

Don't amberite aethers leave dust behind? That could be a potential source for it. But I guess it could also be Mr. Sandy trying to get this type of reaction from us

[Weltall]

The crystals grown from Amberite do decay into dust, yes. Whether that would apply in Mraize's case is a bit more questionable since Brandon has implied he has it as a trophy but can't actually use it. Either he's missing some necessary criteria (whatever that might be) or the Aether is 'dead' and can't form a viable bond, like the bit that D'naa chipped from Raeth. Or quite possibly both are true.

Edited May 24, 2021 by Weltall

[+Oltux72 he/him]

On 24.5.2021 at 9:11 PM, Weltall said:

The crystals grown from Amberite do decay into dust, yes. Whether that would apply in Mraize's case is a bit more questionable since Brandon has implied he has it as a trophy but can't actually use it. Either he's missing some necessary criteria (whatever that might be) or the Aether is 'dead' and can't form a viable bond, like the bit that D'naa chipped from Raeth. Or quite possibly both are true.

Who, then, has a live aether? Iyatil?

[Treamayne]

On 6/24/2019 at 1:11 PM, Weltall said:

It was six and within the context of the story that's all there are (the Former discusses it and he'd know better than anyone) but from an out of universe perspective we know that Brandon had plans for other aethers (involving flying magic) so it's entirely possible that the stain came from one that he created after Aether of Night and which we simply don't know about yet.

Further WoB about the number of Aethers:

Spoiler

 

Questioner

Are there still six different types of Aethers in current canon? Or has that changed?

Brandon Sanderson

They have expanded. I’m using the Aethers behind the scenes for a lot of space age things. And because I’m doing that, I am adding in a few more Aethers. There’s going to be some limits on this. I’m tweaking which Aethers I’m actually making, ‘cause some of them didn’t work as well as other ones.

There will end up being more, but I won’t canonize the number until I have the Aether book ready to release.

 

So i would guess the stain (described as a liquid substance) came from an Aether that was not in AoN.

 

 

[+Oltux72 he/him]

On 23.6.2022 at 4:47 PM, Treamayne said:

Further WoB about the number of Aethers:

So i would guess the stain (described as a liquid substance) came from an Aether that was not in AoN.

 

 

So we need to assume that the Ghostbloods have access to at least two aethers, don't we? Why are they not using them more often?

[Treamayne]

23 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

So we need to assume that the Ghostbloods have access to at least two aethers, don't we? Why are they not using them more often?

Why would we need to assume that? All we really know is:

1. Mraize's trophy room had a chunk of (probable) Amberite that did not decay and he cannot use
2. Mraize, at some point, came in contact with some Aether that decays into a liquid, which stained his pants.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

5 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Why would we need to assume that? All we really know is:

1. Mraize's trophy room had a chunk of (probable) Amberite that did not decay and he cannot use
2. Mraize, at some point, came in contact with some Aether that decays into a liquid, which stained his pants.

Well, the amberite does not turn liquid. So there has to be a second aether if we consider it liquid.