***SPOILERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon****

[happyman]

I think we need to bear in mind that Preservation knew a lot of what was going to happen (probably had a limited ability to see through time).  Atium mistings would be a good thing to have if you knew that you were going to have to destroy a lot of Atium very quickly, and I think we should assume that keeping the amount of physical Atium around as low as possible would be a priority for Preservation.  So a little bit of special programming in the mists would create humans capable of destroying Atium's body, rather than using the true Temporal Metals.  It was probably a simple change, because Atium had many aspects of a temporal metal (as well as a mental one).

[hoid354]

I agree with wilson; Atium (or electrum-atium) replaced cadmium (or not-Cerrobend, can't remember which) due to the power of Preservation (most likely in the hands of TLR) wanting to dispose of the atium and making everyone burn it all up so Ruin couldn't get his hands on it. Oh, just like happyman was saying   

[Andrew the Great]

I just want to point out that Preservation would not actually want to have People burn Atium all that often. IIRC (which is always iffy) after the atium was burned, it would eventually re-form somewhere else (like the Pits). Thus it would be better to stash the atium and then burn it only if it seemed like Ruin was going to get it.

I could be remembering totally wrong, in which case, feel free to correct me.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

No, you're right. It says that in one of the headings I think. Which nicely explains away a bit of potential plot-hole-accusation-fodder.

[little wilson]

Does that reforming of Atium still apply to now, after the reformation of the planet? I can't remember if EUOL said anything definitively about that. I know some people theorized that it was permanently gone, since Elend's army burned it all, and Sazed probably wouldn't let it reform, but if it reforms by default over time, I would think there's a chance for more in the future.

Not that it really matters, though, since there won't be any Mistborn in the later trilogies, and since I seriously doubt there will be Seers, that means Atium will be pretty useless if it's still around....

[happyman]

I just want to point out that Preservation would not actually want to have People burn Atium all that often. IIRC (which is always iffy) after the atium was burned, it would eventually re-form somewhere else (like the Pits). Thus it would be better to stash the atium and then burn it only if it seemed like Ruin was going to get it.

I could be remembering totally wrong, in which case, feel free to correct me.

This is true.  I suppose that in order for my argument to work, Preservation would have to have foreseen the very situation Elend ended up in.  Which he apparently did (the Kandra have a prophecy about it, if you read closely.)  But that's probably the reason for the switch.

[Czanos]

Does that reforming of Atium still apply to now, after the reformation of the planet? I can't remember if EUOL said anything definitively about that. I know some people theorized that it was permanently gone, since Elend's army burned it all, and Sazed probably wouldn't let it reform, but if it reforms by default over time, I would think there's a chance for more in the future.

Not that it really matters, though, since there won't be any Mistborn in the later trilogies, and since I seriously doubt there will be Seers, that means Atium will be pretty useless if it's still around....

I think the physical power of Ruin only condensed because his cognitive self was trapped. Now that Sazed controls the cognitive parts of both powers, Atium and Lerasium (And Sazedium?) need only condense if he wills it. At least that's how I understand it.

[Phaz]

In the second book, Zane gives Vin some atium that isn't all atium.

We know with Vin when she has other metal reserves, she can sense how much of it she has inside her.  There are cases where she recalls the reserve of power being massive.

She swallowed that bead when her and Zane went after Cett.  Wouldn't she of realized it was a very small reserve?

[little wilson]

I don't think she was really thinking about it in the course of the battle. She never even used it because she never had to...I think she was probably more focused on the reserves for the metals she WAS using than on the reserves for the metals that she wasn't--like the Atium.

And the only time that I can really recall her noticing that the reserves were massive was in the first book, when Kell first has her drink the vial...I'm probably wrong. There's probably more times than just that.....I don't have my book with me to verify though.

[happyman]

I think it is clear that a Mistborn or Misting can instinctively tell how much metal they have.  There's no question about it, really.  It also seems clear that they have to consciously check.  Vin didn't notice her extra reserves that first time until she looked.  Thus if she didn't look closely at her Atium, she might not have noticed how much she had.

[SarahG]

The bead Zane gave her was a fairly large bead of some other metal, thinly coated with atium, right?  It seems to me that just as the appearance is deceptive to the eyes, so the "feel" of the reserve inside her might have been deceptive.  Until she had burned through the thin layer of atium, she couldn't tell what was underneath - for all she could sense, the whole thing "felt" like atium.

[Discar]

Okay, this is my first time posting here, so I'll just start out with the usual:  Brandon Sanderson, you are amazing, Mistborn is my favorite series, you make all the rest of us writers feel inadequate, so on and so forth.  Moving on...

I did have a few questions, mostly about allomantic savants.  Sazed talks about it a little, and we see the side effects of tin with Spook.  However, other than that, we don't get much detail.  I mean, I think we can all figure out what a pewter savant would be like on our own, but I am curious about copper savants.  What are the effects of that?  Sazed did mention they were there, even though most people missed them.  And what about iron/steel?  Zinc/brass?  Tin and pewter make sense, but I can't figure out anything for the other metals--except, perhaps, an increased skill while burning them, and withdrawal-like symptoms if not.

Oh, and if this has already been answered, I'm sorry.  I tried reading through the entire thread, got to page twenty six or so, and decided it wasn't worth the effort.

[Chaos]

I did have a few questions, mostly about allomantic savants.  Sazed talks about it a little, and we see the side effects of tin with Spook.  However, other than that, we don't get much detail.  I mean, I think we can all figure out what a pewter savant would be like on our own, but I am curious about copper savants.  What are the effects of that?  Sazed did mention they were there, even though most people missed them.  And what about iron/steel?  Zinc/brass?  Tin and pewter make sense, but I can't figure out anything for the other metals--except, perhaps, an increased skill while burning them, and withdrawal-like symptoms if not.

I am pretty certain bronze and copper savants just gain a longer range for their respective abilities.

Iron and Steel is more interesting. Steel Inquisitors, I believe, are Iron or Steel savants, since they need to be burning those to even see. This explains how they can see tiny particles of metal that normal Allomancers would never be able to sense--the Inquisitors are savants. I think in an annotation, Brandon said "any Allomancer can learn to see like an Inquisitor can" (though I don't have a link handy to point you to the exact annotation). This must be because any Allomancer can become a savant with enough effort.

[Reaves]

Interesting. I wonder how long it takes to become a Steel or Iron Savant? For Spook's tin it took about a year, right? I wonder if the time period is the same for all metals. If so, it would suck to be an Inquisitor for the first year or so.... regardless, it would suck anyway.

[Capulus]

So does anyone know if Brandon is aware of this new movie Push coming out? Looks kind of  A WHOLE LOT like mistborn. Wikipedia it if you havent seen it, its sort of ridiculous.