Eleventh metal in The Final Empire

[therunner he/him]

So, at the start of The Final Empire, Kelsier unveils silvery-white metal that according to legends is Lord Ruler's weakness and he can be killed with it. What Kel has is malatium and as we see it does not actually do what Kel hoped. However, the metal is described as silver-white in color, which coincidentally is the same look as aluminum.

I think the legend was correct, there is Eleventh Metal that can kill Lord Ruler and it is aluminum as it would block his compounded healing. However because Kel had only description of the metal to go on, and did not know what aluminum was, he accidentally mistook malatium for the true eleventh metal of legend, aluminum. And I think he only assumed that the metal would have to be burned, because of his new found powers.

So I think Ruin tried to guide Kel to get some aluminum to kill Lord Ruler, but Kel made a bit of a mistake which complicated Ruin's plan.

[Weltall]

No, Ruin is the one who created the 'legend' of the Eleventh Metal and he set it up to get Rashek out of the way. Sazed says as much in the epigraphs.

Quote

I now believe that Kelsier's stories, legends, and prophecies about the "Eleventh Metal" were fabricated by Ruin. Kelsier was looking for a way to kill the Lord Ruler, and Ruin—ever subtle—provided a way.

That secret was indeed crucial. Kelsier's Eleventh Metal provided the very clue we needed to defeat the Lord Ruler. However, even in this, we were manipulated. The Lord Ruler knew Ruin's goals, and would never have released him from the Well of Ascension. So, Ruin needed other pawns—and for that to happen, the Lord Ruler needed to die. Even our greatest victory was shaped by Ruin's subtle fingers.

This gets confirmed by Secret History. Preservation tells Kelsier that burning malatium was 'Ruin's influence on you' and then Ruin straight-up admits it later on:

Quote

“The Eleventh Metal,” Ruin said, amused. “You think that was a coincidence? A story nobody else had heard of, a secret way to kill an immortal emperor? It fell right in your lap.” Kelsier took it in stride. He’d already figured that Gemmel had been touched by Ruin, that Kelsier himself had been a pawn of the creature.

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Weltall

[Halyo_Alex he/him]

2 hours ago, Weltall said:

No, Ruin is the one who created the 'legend' of the Eleventh Metal and he set it up to get Rashek out of the way. Sazed says as much in the epigraphs.

This gets confirmed by Secret History. Preservation tells Kelsier that burning malatium was 'Ruin's influence on you' and then Ruin straight-up admits it later on:

 

well now I just want the alt-timeline where Kel finds aluminum instead lol

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

5 hours ago, Weltall said:

No, Ruin is the one who created the 'legend' of the Eleventh Metal and he set it up to get Rashek out of the way. Sazed says as much in the epigraphs.

This gets confirmed by Secret History. Preservation tells Kelsier that burning malatium was 'Ruin's influence on you' and then Ruin straight-up admits it later on:

 

That doesn't disprove this theory. It simply would have been more convoluted if they had said "you burning malatium, while influenced by Ruin, was actually not his intention, he meant for you to use aluminum." Sounds convoluted and nonsensical, doesn't it?

[Weltall]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Order said:

That doesn't disprove this theory. It simply would have been more convoluted if they had said "you burning malatium, while influenced by Ruin, was actually not his intention, he meant for you to use aluminum." Sounds convoluted and nonsensical, doesn't it?

I have literally no idea what you're trying to say, so yes.

therunner's theory is that Ruin wanted Kelsier to use aluminum to kill Rashek but somehow Kel ended up with malatium instead. Harmony, Preservation and Ruin all agree that Kel was specifically tricked into finding and using malatium and that's what set up Rashek's downfall. So the theory is in fact quite dead by the words of the very person who tricked Kelsier to begin with.

Also, it's a flawed theory because aluminum doesn't completely prevent healing, it just keeps the area right where the metal is lodged from healing. Since F-Gold can keep you alive through the process of being shot in the face with a shotgun or splattered over the landscape like a tomato (because your Spiritual aspect is taking the reins) an aluminum knife (which is pretty much what Kel would have been limited to working with) isn't going to do much more than mildly inconvenience Rashek. Compounded Health would easily keep him alive until the aluminum could be pulled out of the wound. Brandon has mentioned that being shot with an aluminum bullet wouldn't be a huge issue for a Bloodmaker or to a lesser extent a Thug, now consider how much more dangerous Raskek is than either of those. Also (Warbreaker spoiler)

Spoiler

If someone that Endowment wanted to Return were killed with aluminum that was left in the body, they'd just heal around it.

So yeah, the theory doesn't work on any level.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Weltall

[therunner he/him]

21 hours ago, Weltall said:

No, Ruin is the one who created the 'legend' of the Eleventh Metal and he set it up to get Rashek out of the way. Sazed says as much in the epigraphs.

This gets confirmed by Secret History. Preservation tells Kelsier that burning malatium was 'Ruin's influence on you' and then Ruin straight-up admits it later on:

 

Ah, then yeah the quote from SH pretty much disproves it, as Ruin does not seem worried that Kel made a mistake.

I was just surprised at the coincidence that the metal Kel was looking for looks the same way as the one metal we know can interfere with Invested healing, and thought there might be something more to it. I have not gotten to SH in my reread yet, so thank you for that quote.

14 hours ago, Weltall said:

Also, it's a flawed theory because aluminum doesn't completely prevent healing, it just keeps the area right where the metal is lodged from healing. Since F-Gold can keep you alive through the process of being shot in the face with a shotgun or splattered over the landscape like a tomato (because your Spiritual aspect is taking the reins) an aluminum knife (which is pretty much what Kel would have been limited to working with) isn't going to do much more than mildly inconvenience Rashek. Compounded Health would easily keep him alive until the aluminum could be pulled out of the wound. Brandon has mentioned that being shot with an aluminum bullet wouldn't be a huge issue for a Bloodmaker or to a lesser extent a Thug, now consider how much more dangerous Raskek is than either of those. Also (Warbreaker spoiler)

  Hide contents

If someone that Endowment wanted to Return were killed with aluminum that was left in the body, they'd just heal around it.

So yeah, the theory doesn't work on any level.

I was under the impression that Aluminum would interfere with the healing more, possibly actively prevent it, but since Returned could come back alive with Aluminum in body, Aluminum is not as strong a weapon as I though it would be. Thank you for these WoBs as well.

Edited April 11, 2021 by therunner

[cometaryorbit]

On 4/10/2021 at 7:12 PM, Weltall said:

Compounded Health would easily keep him alive until the aluminum could be pulled out of the wound. Brandon has mentioned that being shot with an aluminum bullet wouldn't be a huge issue for a Bloodmaker or to a lesser extent a Thug, now consider how much more dangerous Raskek is than either of those.

Oh, hmm!

OK that makes TLR allowing aluminum to be known far more sensible. I'd thought an aluminum blade in a really vital spot would still kill him, and so he was stupid to allow it to be used by the nobility.

[Halyo_Alex he/him]

8 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Oh, hmm!

OK that makes TLR allowing aluminum to be known far more sensible. I'd thought an aluminum blade in a really vital spot would still kill him, and so he was stupid to allow it to be used by the nobility.

Now, if they knew about the effect of aluminum hemalurgy, THAT would have been stupid and work in the way you expected.

[Hoidolasium he/him]

On 4/11/2021 at 10:46 AM, therunner said:

I was under the impression that Aluminum would interfere with the healing more, possibly actively prevent it, but since Returned could come back alive with Aluminum in body, Aluminum is not as strong a weapon as I though it would be. Thank you for these WoBs as well.

Aluminum doesn't really have magical properties, in the sense that it can affect things outside of normal physics. It doesn't interact with Investiture, but doesn't actively inhibit the flow or use of it in its normal form. When you get into magic systems that use Investiture, that's different. What I'm trying to say is anything that wouldn't pass through aluminum on one of the three Realms (so metal pushing, or mental manipulation, or maybe even futuresight) wouldn't be affected by it.