Adonalsium… ium?

[Treamayne]

52 minutes ago, CognitiveShadow said:

Kind of like how there are bits of ruin and preservation in everyone on scadrial. I could see it being more foundational or fundamental like you’ve pointed out

Well, Brandon did say Silver has Cosmere significance and is not an Allomantic metal. . .

. . . and it does have an effect on the Shades on Threnody.

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

2 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Well, Brandon did say Silver has Cosmere significance and is not an Allomantic metal. . .

. . . and it does have an effect on the Shades on Threnody.

Well Aluminum has weird Cosmere-wide properties and I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that it isn't Ado's Godmetal, so I doubt it's Silver either.

Silver is just weird in ways that haven't been explained yet.

Edit: Also the only reason why Silver isn't an Allomantic Metal is because Brandon had originally thought Pewter an alloy of silver, he was wrong and then he had to change 'Silvereyes' into 'Tineyes'. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by JustQuestin2004

[Treamayne]

35 minutes ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Well Aluminum has weird Cosmere-wide properties

All of the allomantic metals have Cosmere-wide properties, as seen in the RoW Epigraphs

Example:

Spoiler

"A pewter cage will cause the spren of your fabrial to express its attribute in force—a flamespren, for example, will create heat. We call these augmenters. They tend to use Stormlight more quickly than other fabrials."

34 minutes ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Edit: Also the only reason why Silver isn't an Allomantic Metal is because Brandon had originally thought Pewter an alloy of silver, he was wrong and then he had to change 'Silvereyes' into 'Tineyes'.

True, that's why Tin replaced Silver as an allomantic metal. It does not explain why silver has other (mostly unknown) cosmere properties.

WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

Jessica, Matthew, and Jared Ashcraft

Is there significance in the fact that the world of Silence Montane uses silver for protection? (Even though there is no known Allomantic use for silver)

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Quote

Kenzal

Would it make an Allomancer sick if they tried to burn pure silver?

Brandon Sanderson

As it stands right now, nothing would happen, because they would know if it did. Good question. Silver has some weird properties, but on Scadrial they are largely undiscovered.

 

I doubt I'm correct, as this is just WMG - but I thought it an appropriate example of a possible metal that is common, is known to have Cosmere properties (even if those properties are largely unknown), and could easily be overlooked when looking for a pre-shattering metal.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Treamayne
SPAGF

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

4 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

It does not explain why silver has other (mostly unknown) cosmere properties.

I suppose the writerly answer would be because Brandon still wanted Silver to do something. He just couldn't use it in Allomancy.

Edited October 26, 2022 by JustQuestin2004

[Treamayne]

1 minute ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

I suppose the writerly answer would be because he still wanted Silver to do something. He just couldn't use it in Allomancy.

WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

What's the deal with silver? Why does it not fit cleanly into the Allomantic metals, why is aluminum a special one and not silver. Why is it silver powder and not aluminum powder on Threnody? These kinds of questions.

Brandon Sanderson

Do you want the in-world answer... or the writerly answer?

Questioner

Well really I want the in-world answer.

Brandon Sanderson

...The in-world answer is that people are not sure yet.

Questioner

Well, that's not the in-world answer. That's the in world answer from Khriss, right? What about the in-world answer from--

Brandon Sanderson

That's the in-world answer--they're not sure yet...

The writerly answer is that we started with silver in place of tin. And by the time I swapped it out, aluminum was already its thing. If I had to do it over again, I might make silver aluminum, but I wanted what aluminum does to be rare, and silver isn't. So I might not have. I love what aluminum does because it's super-rare pre-industrial, but you hit industrial and it's everywhere.

So it allowed me to do, when we get to modern era, to have real checks on Allomancy as Allomancy gets more powerful.

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Treamayne

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

2 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

WoB:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Questioner

What's the deal with silver? Why does it not fit cleanly into the Allomantic metals, why is aluminum a special one and not silver. Why is it silver powder and not aluminum powder on Threnody? These kinds of questions.

Brandon Sanderson

Do you want the in-world answer... or the writerly answer?

Questioner

Well really I want the in-world answer.

Brandon Sanderson

...The in-world answer is that people are not sure yet.

Questioner

Well, that's not the in-world answer. That's the in world answer from Khriss, right? What about the in-world answer from--

Brandon Sanderson

That's the in-world answer--they're not sure yet...

The writerly answer is that we started with silver in place of tin. And by the time I swapped it out, aluminum was already its thing. If I had to do it over again, I might make silver aluminum, but I wanted what aluminum does to be rare, and silver isn't. So I might not have. I love what aluminum does because it's super-rare pre-industrial, but you hit industrial and it's everywhere.

So it allowed me to do, when we get to modern era, to have real checks on Allomancy as Allomancy gets more powerful.

 

 

I was making a reference to that specific WOB, yes.

I think this helps prove my point, he had a plan for Silver, realized that it wouldn't fit into Allomancy nor could have Aluminum's properties, but still wanted Silver to have some kind of significance and gave it some other unknowable properties that we don't understand yet.

[HSuperLee he/him]

5 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

True, that's why Tin replaced Silver as an allomantic metal. It does not explain why silver has other (mostly unknown) cosmere properties.

WoBs:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I doubt I'm correct, as this is just WMG - but I thought it an appropriate example of a possible metal that is common, is known to have Cosmere properties (even if those properties are largely unknown), and could easily be overlooked when looking for a pre-shattering metal.

I've always been really confused by this quote. It doesn't make it clear whether or not silver acts like a non-allomantically viable metal or not. Is it that mistborn just can't burn it? Or they can and it doesn't have any effect including not making them sick? Or is that when they burn it they do become sick just like any other non-viable metal? I understand Sanderson hasn't completely figured silver out yet (at least not that he's told us), but I'm overall just very confused about silver's interaction with allomancy and I don't think I'm the only one considering how many times I've seen that WoB used to defend mutually exclusive conclusions about silver.

But that's all less related to the topic of this thread. I personally would not be a huge fan of Adonalsiumium being a real-world metal. I know that also throws out the aluminum idea, and I can't exactly explain why it would bother me, but it would. I like the fact that in the Cosmere metals aren't just metal but have some level of supernatural properties, but going as far as one real-world metal being considered the body of a cosmic creator is very weird to me. Thinking about it, I guess it would bother me because I assume that natural formation of the metals still occurs in the Cosmere. If that's taken away suddenly and you have a situation where Cosmere silver or aluminum isn't real life's version of the metal but some magic thing that replaces our metals place in the periodic table I'd prefer to just have new magical metal rather than mess with chemistry. 

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

13 minutes ago, HSuperLee said:

If that's taken away suddenly and you have a situation where Cosmere silver or aluminum isn't real life's version of the metal but some magic thing that replaces our metals place in the periodic table I'd prefer to just have new magical metal rather than mess with chemistry. 

Yeah that sums up my reluctance for the 'Silver/Aluminum is Adonalsiumsium' Theory, it just doesn't feel right. God Metals have always been shown to be distinct, different, supernatural. The thought of a 'regular' metal secretly being Ado's pure Investiture solidified is kind of like if your favorite cup was secretly the holy grail all along, it just doesn't fit for me. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by JustQuestin2004

[+robardin he/him]

I would say that "adonalsium" is the metal of Adonalsium; there is no fundamental distinction except in a mortal mind's context.

Paraphrasing something some of you may be familiar with: "In the beginning was the metal, and the metal was with God, and the metal was God."

Which would make sense if you consider the name/term for God in our world "Adonai" (my Lord) - His metal would be "Adonai-sium" or more smoothly, "adonalsium", no?

Edited October 27, 2022 by robardin

[Telrao she/her]

4 hours ago, robardin said:

I would say that "adonalsium" is the metal of Adonalsium; there is no fundamental distinction except in a mortal mind's context.

Paraphrasing something some of you may be familiar with: "In the beginning was the metal, and the metal was with God, and the metal was God."

Which would make sense if you consider the name/term for God in our world "Adonai" (my Lord) - His metal would be "Adonai-sium" or more smoothly, "adonalsium", no?

Ooo that actually makes sense! Excellent reasoning, robardin. I still prefer adonalsiumium, but that just because it's fun to say.

But, to the sane human, adonalsium would probably be the name.