Isomere

Here is the other quote about Rashek becoming the shard for a short time.

Here is the quote, it says Rashek tried to destroy Kwaan and was unable to. My interpretation is that someone using the Well of Ascension is more affected by the Intent of the Shard than someone using Allomancy. Brandon has said that Rashek effectively became a co-shardholder with Leras for a while there, until the power in the Well was used up.

Modified the question to be more specific and use only metals that are allomantically active. My theory is that burning aluminum changes the identity of the available metals within a Mistborn. If not controlled they become inert, but a skilled allomancer may be able to change common metals into more useful alloys. EDIT: I think it's most likely that the metals just get burned up, but this question has been nagging me for a week or so. Does anyone really know how the metal reserves disappear? If the metals got turned into swiss cheese the effect on the allomancer would be identical to if they were burned without channeling any power.

Well, it's all kinda conjecture actually. We know all the different types of magic from Sel use the same base power called the Dor. We know all the magic systems seem to be cultural or locational. We also know that both of the Shards were splintered and the holders killed when odium came to visit. There is also this quote. Someone asked why Scadrial has three magic systems and Sel has so many different types of magic. So for two shards to be on the same planet and only have one type of magic created they would likely have had to merge.

The quote doesn't say he has visited all of the planets. Perhaps subtle influence in a single key decision would qualify for Odium being Active.

Can you use Allomantic Aluminum to change lead into gold? EDIT: Could a skilled Allomancer burn aluminum to change iron into gold?

You seem to be implying that using the Mists to fuel Allomancy would not weaken Preservation, and I disagree based on this quote. Brandon says that directly fueling allomancy imbalances the Shard and is like sacrificing a pawn in a game of chess. It is not clear if there is a net loss of energy or just a redistribution, but another quote says that the Shards are hesitant to directly fuel any of the metallic arts because the energy would be expended. That strongly implies a net loss of energy. The Body can eventually be recovered, but the process of recovery takes time and may require some input of power. We both agree that when burning a normal metal preservation is not weakened. This quote starts out by saying that Preservation's Power is a piece of the Powers of Creation. But then Brandon makes a sharp distinction between the Body of Preservation and the Powers of Creation. So I am left to believe they are both powers of creation, but have fundamentally different uses and consequences. That is why I think there are divisions in the Powers of Creation, and that the Body of a Shard is separate from the powers people can access through the shard's magic system.

I've thought about that quote for quite some time and it leaves me feeling something important is missing. There is a difference between the power in Atium and the power after it was burned by the mistings. It was dispersed, and would require energy to collect it again. With the water example, after passing a turbine the water has much less potential energy because it has gone from the top of the dam to the bottom. To get the energy back it needs to absorb sunlight and evaporate.

Thanks for the info Windy. You have given some pretty convincing arguments, both with that quote and with the post link from Zas. I still see some contradictions that don't seem to work. Brandon has made a clear separation between the Power of Creation and the Body of a Shard, but in the same breath he says the Shards themselves ARE the Power of Creation. This contradiction is not adequately accounted for in any argument I have read. Accessing one type of power doesn't seem to weaken a Shard, but burning up the Shards Body is compared to sacrificing a piece in chess. The only way I can reconcile these is to think there are divisions within the power of creation that each behave very differently. I'll describe one possible way this division could occur. Lets assume there is no source of power other than the shards themselves. Each shard is basically a Sun. Some fundamental reaction at the core of each Shard generates a fixed energy output, but the Shard can only retain a small portion of that energy, and the rest is radiated out into the Cosmere. The part that is retained is converted into physical matter in either solid, liquid or gas form and becomes part of the Shard's body. Burning metals to fuel Allomancy uses the power that is radiating out from Preservation. Burning the mists uses the part that Preservation has already internalized. Thoughts?

You may be right Windrunner. I don't yet see a rule preventing two shards from merging if both of their holders desire it, but one could easily be introduced into the books. We are dealing with Shards composed mostly of pure energy, and energy can be mixed around in various ways that I think allows for some interesting connections between two holders. Taking a step back, we don't really know what was required for Ruin and Preservation to work together. It could be simply working in tandem like Saidin and Saidar, but even in that analogy the powers were usually wielded inside of a linked circle. I also don't see a rule that prevents shards from linking and then separating again afterward. Getting back to the thread topic, I was mostly just theorizing that Odium targets the biggest threats first, and dominion and devotion were working together far too well for his liking.

I suspect odium has been to both Honor and Cultivation's homeworlds and made them uninhabitable. He likely did the same with Endowment. I think Sel was a threat to him because there were two shards working together in relative peace. They may have even merged.

I think Vin was using Bronze to pick on on some type of Lightweaving Hoid was doing and it spooked her.

I hate to bring this up... but chalklings as access links to Forms? The "best" chalklings create an ideal representation of the Form. Shading, colors, accuracy of proportions etc. help make your chalkling more ideal and thus more powerful. If the Rithmatist has a strong connection to the underlying Form could that make it easier to give commands to the chalkling? So the reason Melody can control Unicorns so well is because she is completely obsessed with them.

"Protecting ten innocents is not worth killing one. In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.” from chapter 59. Quote showing that Amaram is clearly not following the Intent of the Almighty when he makes this choice. He does seem conflicted, and I think he really was trying to be the leader Kaladin saw in him.

I can show a good way to make the percentage of metals important, but the way they are positioned in the alloy irrelevant: Just think of each metal atom as a glowing ball of colored light. Mix all the light together and the mixture's color determines allomantic properties. My Theory: The waves in an atom form a Surgepattern, just like an Aon on Sel forms a Surgepattern. These allow the Power of Creation to leak through and cause the pattern to "glow" (though it usually isn't visible to the human eye). The shape of the Surgepattern determines which "color" of the Power we access. Color is a good analogy because it is just a way to describe "pulse length and frequency". So assigning random colors to some metals: Tin = red Copper = green Bronze = yellow If you mix 33% copper with 66% tin you would get orange light, and it wouldn't work allomantically If you mix 50% copper with 50% tin you get yellow light and it would work perfectly for Seeking. If the hue is off a bit it works less well. (Link to site with a Light Mixing toolkit since pigment mixing is so different)

We don't know for sure, there is only this quote that implies most of the stuff we see in the visions happened before Tanavast died (which may have been a different moment from when Honor shattered). “Most of what I show you are scenes I have seen directly.” from the Top Room chapter.

I also think this is a likely theory. If you speak the Radiant Ideals and attune perfectly to Honor you could basically become a living stormgem, able to perfectly hold stormlight.

Perhaps the ShadowBlaze noticed something inside of Joel, some fundamental character flaw that made him a poor choice for bonding with. I want to believe that Joel is supposed to become a Rithmatist, but he could be very dangerous with that power.

Being granted Investiture, and Attuning your Identity to a Shard are two very different things. http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977/#5 I define Investiture as a piece of a Shard. The bits of Ruin and Preservation inside of people on Scadrial are one type, and allow access to the three Metallic Arts. The two massive lumps of Investiture Sazed picked up to become Harmony are another type. On Scadrial, you can't use Allomancy until after you have Snapped. That process requires undergoing intense trauma that I believe helps attune your Identity to Preservation. I discuss my ideas about how Lerasium works here. Some people think that Lerasium does grant you a piece of Preservation. That is possible, but Brandon has implied that it works differently: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=727#45 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/1729-a-late-breaking-report/

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=949/#4 EDIT: just found this quote, seems very supportive of the theory.

I like the theory. You've already seen my thoughts on Damnation, but I have no idea where the location actually is, nor how the Heralds get there. The way Taln appears suddenly, dripping with condensation suggests a similar process to how Shardblades are summoned. I personally think his physical body was formed from Shardic Deposition directly from spirit energy, similar to the way Atium is formed.

Overall I like the thought that went into this theory. I went and read the entire epigraph from the OP quote and your ideas make more sense in that context. From Windy's quote, atium is normal matter. If you find a metal with the same number of protons as Atium, they both would have the same molecular structure and would create the same "aon". However, there IS a marked difference between god-metal and normal metal, and it's pretty hard to say for certain how that would affect things. Based on my theory, the atomic structure of electrum is directly linked to Ruin in some manner. It would make perfect sense for him to manifest in the physical realm by recreating this pattern. I support the theory that Atium is Electrum imbued with massive amounts of Ruin's Power, but there are many other options that are equally valid. I strongly disagree with the idea of Nicrosil correlating directly to Lerasium. There is no convincing evidence that Lerasium permanently changes your Investiture, rather it Attunes your Identity to Preservation. To counter your points above supporting the Nicrosil option: Nicrosil is an alloy, just like electrum - It would also create nice symmetry if Ati formed an alloy and Leras formed a pure metal. Nicrosil and Lerasium exhibits the Others/Self inversion that we are looking for - This inversion is common to both theories. Lerasium alters your own Identity, Aluminum alters the Identity of Metals that you can contact allomantically. Nicrosil's Allomantic effects mirrors Lerasium in that they both grant enormous Investiture to their target - I see no evidence that Lerasium alters your Investiture.

I agree Paydirt. I think Voidbinding on Roshar involves trapping an Honorspren, then hijacking the Investiture of the Almighty to create anti-surges. My ramblings about the original theory are here, and build on the symbols inside the book covers. Basically, the semi-inversion in the image below would create an identical Surge, but reverse the Charge and Spin. This is similar to noise cancellation headphones, and I correlate it to creating antimatter. If you switch the spin and charge of a particle you get antimatter. If you switch the spin and charge of a Surge you get an anti-surge. I theorize that if Odium gets his hands on a re-creation of Adonalsium's Investiture he could use Voidbinding to unravel the very fabric of Creation which is my interpretation of Dalinar's last vision.

I assumed the size of the wild chalklings was about the same size as the ShadowBlazes. The big ShadowBlaze Joel saw might have been different from the ones that other kids get and he may end up connecting to that guy in the future. Perhaps during a visit to the Grand Canyon? What really worries me is the kid almost seems willing to become a Forgotten to gain Rithmatic Power. (page 354)

Will you add some questions about seasons on Roshar: "Does the weeping occur on the entire planet at once? Does it correspond to a Node in the Highstorms? Are the seasons regional or planetary?"