Timewaster's Guide Archive

Also, Ishamael has done a great deal to further the Dark One's cause and disrupt his foes over the past 3000 years.  He was affected by the seals considerably less than the rest of the Forsaken and was able to actually go out into the world periodically, and he managed to accomplish quite a bit each time, always in ways that clearly benefited the Dark One.  He has an established track record of concentrating on the Dark One's agenda rather than his own selfish greed, and being very effective at it too.

Among other things, I seem to recall Ishamael boasting about being a top adviser of Artur Hawkwing and turning him against the White Tower and all Aes Sedai.

I think people here need to stop thinking of larasium as a real thing.  Unlike atium, it was clearly created only once for a single purpose, is now gone, and its creator has no reason (and Brandon has said there would be no mistborn in later times) to do it again.

Why?  It may never appear again, but it is most definitely a real thing and Brandon has explicitly stated that it has alloys and that those alloys have specific effects.  Those effects may never be seen in canon stories, but for some people, myself included, discussing the possible full details of the magic system including those metals is interesting for its own sake even if many of those details never come into play in any book Brandon ever writes.

I just thought of possible hemalurgic effects of Larasium and the Atium/Larasium alloy.  A Larasium spike could steal all the powers of a full mistborn, while the alloy could steal all the powers of a feruchemist, all with a single spike.  Make a new Lord Ruler from a normal human with just two spikes, one Larasium and one Atium/Larasium.  Simple, logical, and fits well within the established framework.  Of course I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Brandon has come up with something spectacularly different for that and I still have no clue what a feruchemist could do with them, but that's my best guess so far.  If Brandon ever comes back to this thread it we be nice to get a comment or two about this.

Remember Kelsier?

I fail to see how that is relevant.  This isn't Brandon's book, the list of who lives and who dies was written by Robert Jordan.

The Kandra may have had the prophecy as it was at the time of Rashek's ascension, but Ruin had already corrupted it by then.

That reminds me:
Are we ever going to get the full table of Feruchemical and Hemalurgic properties of all 16 metals?

In particular, is Atium really the only way to steal Allomantic Temporal Powers?  What category is Atium considered for the purpose of Hemalurgically stealing the ability to burn it?  I believe Atium-burning is a standard ability for Inquisitors under the Lord Ruler's reign, so if it's classified as Temporal like the in-universe chart at the time of Mistborn has it* shouldn't all Inquisitors have an Atium spike?  If so, why wouldn't Vin and Elend have taken that spike from the bodies of each Inquisitor they killed?

* or if Atium really just steals the ability to burn Atium, an inconsequential difference for Mistborn because I don't see the Lord Ruler caring about his Inquisitors being able to burn any of the real Temporal metals

How, exactly, are the Feruchemical abilities categorized and organized?  The abilities for the Allomantic Physical metals are obviously physical, and Zinc, Copper, and Bronze are clearly mental.  Brass's warmth seems a bit odd for the mental classification, though.  Gold's health I could see classifying as temporal by explaining it as speeding up the body's healing processes, but it would really fit better as a physical power.  Plus, if Inquisitors have gold Feruchemy and it's considered a Feruchemical temporal power, they'd need another kind of metal spike.  Also, I'd be interested to know what possible Feruchemical abilities might be classified as Enhancement.

What is the logic behind which Hemalurgic metals steal which abilities?  The four that steal normal human abilities make sense - the four base physical and mental metals, each stealing the physical or mental trait most appropriate for that metal given its Allomantic property (though Iron seems more of a case of being the last place available for its assigned ability).  Which of the alloys steals Allomantic abilities and which steals Feruchemical abilities of the same category is inconsistent, though.  For physical abilities, the external metal steals Allomancy and the internal steals Feruchemy.  For mental, it's the opposite.  And then you get into the enhancement metals where the base internal metal steals Allomancy...  The only known Hemalurgic temporal property is really one of the god metals, so we don't have much to work on there.

Oh, I doubt it will ever come up in a book, but what Feruchemical property does Larasium store?  Also, is there an Atium/Larasium alloy and what does it do for each of Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy?  I'd guess it makes an Atium Misting for Allomancy, but I have no clue about the other two.

Information about the properties of all god-metal alloys would be very interesting and neat to have, too, though I suppose Brandon might want to keep those in reserve for possible "divine intervention" by Sazed in future books.

Jeez, I saw this thread was going a little crazy so I figured I'd give an update just to get things back on track. I'm on page 387 of TGH and this book is definitely 5 times better than EotW.

Hardcover, paperback, mass market paperback, or some other edition?  I believe page counts vary considerably among those, and there might even be minor differences between different printings of the same type.  Plus, I'd have to actually check the book to see where in the plot a given page number is.  It would be better to give a chapter name or describe a recent scene briefly to identify where you are in a book.

I do kinda have a complaint, the scenes with Rand are getting a little tedious. When I'm reading a chapter that focuses on him, everything seems to slow to a crawl. All the other points of view seem so much more interesting. Hopefully, it will pass soon. It's no good to find the main character boring, especially in a series this long. I'm still intent on reading it. Perhaps these "boring" parts contain something that will become relevant later and I'll have an "Ah-ha!!" moment and realize I was complaining about nothing.

Is he out of the alternate world yet, and if so how recently?  He really doesn't have very much to do in that tiny group cut off from everything.

BTW Selene weirds me out BIG time. I don't care if she's smokin' hot, she's loopy. I have my suspicions.........
Thanks again guys.

Anything specific or just a general feeling that she's odd and out of place?

Also, I find it far too coincidental for that spiking to truly have been by accident.  Ruin had already managed to spike the boss of those Thugs, and could have convinced him to deliberately make his bodyguards' swords out of steel with exact allomantic proportions.

It could also just be that no known mix of steel is significantly superior to allomantic steel for swords and such, so that particular proportion became standard by default, though smiths may not be quite so careful about getting it exact when they're not making it for allomancers.