Commander Spoonface

I think it makes sense for Atium to be a normally ridiculously unstable element (one not even on our periodic table) held together by Ruin's energy. If releasing Ruin's energy is even stronger than releasing the Strong Nuclear Force, is it possible to make an Atium bomb? Does Atium have a critical mass when it is strongly condensed?

Is there a shard of tastelessness? That would be his shard.

Well, iron is still iron, even if it is made of atoms, like everything else. There is nothing in the behavior of Atium to suggest it is not simply an element, albeit one that is not present on the periodic table as known to humans.

Listening to three hours (about the reading time of the first) of that voice can cause internal hemorrhaging. There ought to be an FDA warning on the cassette.

If it's not made of particles then it couldn't be digestible, or mailable, and you couldn't make it into an alloy. I'm pretty sure that would break physics in a vast number of other ways, too.

Is Allomancy releasing power inherent in the metal or using the metal to draw power into the Allomancer?

Perhaps the nature of Dominion and Devotion, both distinctly human characteristics, makes their magic systems closely related to the cultures that practice it.

I definitely remember seeing a quote that Lerasium makes Mistborn more powerful, perhaps with other effects as well.

I agree. For example, is the Well of Ascension the same element as Lerasium, only liquid? Or is it something else entirely? Is it another element or a pure expression of energy and not really a liquid at all.

I like the idea of each magic system being a sort of "cocktail" of the two shards. To explain why things happened differently on Scadrial than Sel, I propose the following: When humans were created on Scadrial, it was done because neither of the shards' intents allowed for the creation of humans alone. On Sel, however, it seems possible that both Dominion and Devotion could create humans on their own. Perhaps when humans were created on Sel, each Shard wanted more influence, and was trying to influence various peoples on Sel more than the other Shard. For example, when the Fjordell were created, Dominion got the majority of influence over them, but somehow or other, perhaps Devotion was able to sneak a little of its power in there as well. My point is that some sort of power war over the humans of Sel could explain varying degrees of influence from each shard. </insanetheory>

Sorry, I was using "feruchemist" in the same sense as "allomancer" rather than "mistborn". That makes a great deal of sense to me. Does this simply mean that unleashing the raw power of a Shard on a human has the effect of modifying their spiritweb to be in closer alignment with that shard, with different effects based on the mental state of the person? Come to think of it, that explains the Returned, Elantrians, and maybe even Knights Radiant.

Oops. I was just throwing out names of levels without consideration there. I believe that is possible, but I also believe that it is not simply a stable form of an an unstable existing element. While examining it with normal scientific procedures ("normal" being Earth-standard here) it may appear to be just another elements, I do not think that it will be any elements that exists on the "normal" Periodic Table so far, simply because it does not sound like something Brandon would pull to me.

I find this theory to be shiny. I personally believe that there's a fourth, perhaps less likely option. What if swallowing the metalmind allows you to get a feel for how Feruchemy works in general, and swallowing Lerasium while focusing on that makes you just a regular Feruchemist? I think the core issue here is whether or not it is possible to consciously or subconsciously affect the way Lerasium re-writes your sDNA. As I read your theory, it's the state of mind and desire to access the power of the swallowed metalmind that causes your sDNA to be re-written differently. If that is the case, does that mean that through intense study and knowledge of how the spiritweb is constructed, to affect how Lerasium changes your sDNA in whatever way you want. However, it seems more likely that pure Lerasium will only re-write your sDNA in order to make your connection to Preservation stronger, as evidenced by the fact that its alloys will make people Mistings as well. Perhaps alloying Lerasium with a metalmind, then burning the result, would have one of the effects you describe here.

Atium is matter, because it occupies space and has mass. However, I believe that is must behave differently from regular matter. The difficulty lies in discovering where the difference stems from. In other words, does it behave like other matter until you examine it on the molecular level, or the atomic level, or the subatomic level?

We do know it has mass, though, unless massless gravity simulation is a property of Ruin's power.

Now that has many, many, interesting applications.

Allow me to clarify: The idea of Atium being any type of variant of a real element does not appeal to me.

Yeah. Although, I wonder what results would be yielded if someone examined Atium with modern scientific technology... How many electrons, protons, and neutrons does it have? Does it act as an element, and if so what is its atomic number? Are there no molecules, just little models of Ati screaming "destroy, destroy!" instead?

The idea of Ruin's metal being a more stable variant of something does not appeal to me. I prefer to think it might be a less stable variant of something, or simply an entirely fictional element that does not occur naturally and may be essentially impossible to create in a lab.

What was the process involved in Brandon being chosen to take over WoT?

Was Hoid's presence in multiple books mentioned by Brandon before or after readers noticed it?

Your stomach is actually full of hydrochloric acid. However, it seems that Allomancy makes metals harder to digest. It's possible that this means Atium is a softer metal, which makes sense. After all, lead is also a very soft metal, and if Atium is as soft it could be difficult to tell them apart.

I have to agree lil_literalist. Occam's Razor states that the simpler explanation is more likely true, and this theory seems needlessly complex when "magic" works just as well.

What if there is a symbol that makes someone an Elantrian when drawn in a substance of some sort?

I can imagine that people would start hiding feruchemical and allomantic abilities to reduce the danger of being kidnapped, spiked, and having those spikes sold to those lacking such abilities. I suppose it would be difficult to hide such a spike from authorities, though, and walking through a metal detector at airport security would be an issue...