Found 30 entries in 0.087 seconds.
Questioner
Is silver in Shadows for Silence similar in any way to aluminum in the rest of the cosmere?
Brandon Sanderson
*hesitantly* Yes, but not really. Silver is like silver, and aluminum is like aluminum.
Questioner
Does aluminum have any specific use in Shadows for Silence?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, you could definitely find a use for it.
Ankylosaurian
I wondered how silver would differ from aluminum when it comes to interacting with Shades?
Brandon Sanderson
That one's a RAFO for now.
mraize7
u/mistborn I know you were writing the sequel to [Sixth of the Dusk]. Any progress on Threnody's novel?
Brandon Sanderson
Just some vague ideas here and there. Nothing too specific. Silver chain in Oathbringer is from Threnody, though. (They use them in Silverlight too.) I'll get a chance to explain what they are eventually. (I hope.)
pharaoh9000
Nightblood's sheath and Silence's dagger are silver... Does silver have more secrets to reveal to us? Does it have some Cosmere-sized significance?
Brandon Sanderson
Nightblood's sheath is indeed of cosmere-sized significance... but it may not be actual silver.
Questioner
In [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], when silver turns to dust, is that a Spiritual transformation or a chemical reaction?
Brandon Sanderson
Both, as I have it right now. That one's not canon, but I say not canon because I haven't written it into the books yet and I still have another book to write, there. But I would say both right now.
Ace Heat
Would it be possible to use an aluminum spike to permanently kill a spren?
Brandon Sanderson
No, that's not gonna work. Silver, on the other hand, there's some possibility.
Questioner
Was there an Allomantic power that didn't make it into the book?
Brandon Sanderson
Was there an Allomantic power that didn't make it into the book. Oh... Yes, but I'm trying to remember. I had like two dozen of them? Oh boy I can't even remember the ones that I discarded. I was going to do a lot more stuff externally, stuff that like wasn't inside of you and it didn't end up working out. The big thing that I talk about with Allomancy that changed is originally I was using...silver as one of the metals, this is-- this is because... Dumb story time, so when I was a kid I painted these little miniatures that you do in D&D so your little guys can actually fight each other, right? And my brother still does this, they're awesome, I was terrible at it, but I painted these little guys. And at one point I went-- and they used to be lead, and then they realized that lead kills you *laughter* and so--or maybe it just makes you strange, I can't remember--I went and all of the prices had gone up, like by a double, because they had made them out of pewter instead. And I said to the guy "What is up with this, you are totally ripping us off. My figures now cost us 50 cents instead of--" I don't remember what it was and he went "Uh yeah it's because pewter has silver in it man. You're buying little silver figures now" and I went "Oh. That's cool." And I bought them. And so for years I thought pewter was an alloy of silver and I wrote an entire book. An Entire Book. The whole first Mistborn book with silvereyes and pewterarms until it went to my beta readers and like "There's almost no silver in pewter Brandon, you don't even really need it. Everything in this magic system works except that." and I went "Well maybe we can just pretend in this world pewter--" "No that's stupid" *laughter* So I had to change it to tin which is actually what you find in pewter. To this day my assistant Peter, who is my continuity editor, came to me and said "You realize you wrote silvereye instead of tineye in the newest Mistborn book that you just finished? It's been ten years Brandon get over it." *laughter* Still happens.
Brandon Sanderson
Chapter Sixty - Part One
Silver, the Useless Metal
I've annotated about this before, but I figured I'd mention it again. As you probably know, in book one, tin was originally silver. I swapped it out for various reasons.
However, that left silver having no Allomantic powers. That feels strange to a lot of people because of how common and useful it is in our modern culture. Such an obvious metal doing nothing seems wrong to readers.
I toyed with using it in place of aluminum at the end of book one, but I realized that wouldn't work. It was too common, so if it had any Allomantic powers, people would know about them for certain. Only a metal that was very hard to find—like aluminum—would be believable as a new metal that most people hadn't heard of.
So silver is Allomantically inert. Just one of the quirks of the magic system.
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.
icanbanter
We know aluminium blocks Investiture. Does silver block anti-Investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
So, silver has its own weird mechanics that I'm slowly exploring in the cosmere. That's not an answer to your question, I'm sorry.
Argent
Can silver help a spore eater with their condition?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, it can stab them through the heart with a silver knife so they die. Much better ending. There is potentially an application of silver that could maybe help them, it would not be my first go to. Silver can be pretty destructive.
Ted Herman (Paraphrased)
I asked for info about Hoid's silver sword.
Brandon Sanderson
It is not Invested but it has personal value to him.
Questioner
If you had aluminum or silver, could someone using Gravitation or Adhesion, could they throw that? Or would they be unable to infuse it with Stormlight?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, they would be unable to.
Hannah
Is there a connection between spores and silver, and shades and silver?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that is a good question to ask. There is, indeed, a connection.
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.
Questioner
In Mistborn, silver doesn’t play a role. But then in Shadows for Silence, silver does play a role...
Brandon Sanderson
It does. I still wanted silver to be part of the Cosmere.
Questioner
But we’ll never see it in Scadrial?
Brandon Sanderson
It does not, as they understand currently, interact with Allomancy, with the three Metallurgic Arts. Silver does have a Cosmere role.
Argent
It seems there is a special interaction between silver and investiture, in at least certain places in the Cosmere. We've seen how silver interacts with aethers, and we've seen over on Threnody. So that makes silver the second really really special metal to interact with investiture. Is the plan now to have aluminum block investiture, and silver destroy investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, that's the way I'm going with it. To make a distinction between them, that's where we're going.
Argent
But silver is still non-allomantic. No silvereyes.
Brandon Sanderson
No, non-allomantic, yup. No silvereyes. This is my nod towards silvereye-ness, and yeah, there we go.
Argent
So would [silver] be effective against spren, just like [anti-Investiture]?
Brandon Sanderson
Well, you'll have to find out. RAFO!
Blightsong
I noticed in Dragonsteel that the Sho Del use silver sheathes and that stuck out as an atypical material for an ancient technology scabbard, does the metal hold some kind of significance within Sho Del culture?
Brandon Sanderson
This was done intentionally, and will probably still be a thing when Dragonsteel enters canon--but that's a LONG ways away, so don't read too much into it for now.
Argent
Spores are said to eventually overwhelm a ship's silver defenses. Do aether spores ruin silver like the Shades over in Threnody do?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. It'd take a lot, but yeah. Basically, this is how we have a ship that sinks not destroy the whole ocean.
szeth-is-my-son-son
Can every Cognitive Shadow be affected by silver?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO! Good question!
pharaoh9000
Who was responsible for getting Vin's bronze earring plated "silver"?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO
zotsandcrambles
Is the silver on Threnody imbued with investiture? The presence of a silver knife in Stormlight leads me to believe Threnodoic Silver is actively different than average silver and Threnody's silver could be used off-world in a way - say - Sel's silver couldn't.
Brandon Sanderson
I'm RAFOing most questions about Threnody for multiple reasons. It's a RAFO you shouldn't read too much into, however.
Ted Herman
(paraphrased)
Is silver invested in the Threnody system?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
RAFO.
OrangeJedi
So, Kaladin obviously draws Stormlight from a pouch, all the time... If the pouch was coated in, say aluminum, would he still be able to draw the Stormlight?
Brandon Sanderson
No. Good question.
OrangeJedi
What about if it was coated in silver?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, he probably still could.
Questioner
In Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, they use silver to fight Shades. I'm wondering if that's actual silver or they just call it silver and it's a mysterious metal that's known to fall from the sky.
Brandon Sanderson
It's a good question. I have it as actual silver.
Questioner
Would it be effective, at fighting...if you wanted to harm a spren or seon or other types of Cognitive Shadow?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Peter Ahlstrom
Silver is not Allomantically inert the way aluminum is. In that annotation, Brandon just meant that silver didn't do anything if you swallowed it and tried to burn it. It can be Pushed and Pulled. Years after Brandon wrote that annotation, what he means by "Allomantically inert" has changed.
Pagerunner
The silver-nickel alloy that is used in Raboniel's dagger where the... Is that going to do the opposite effect (like a Pushing vs. Pulling) of what silver does to shades on Threnody?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO, good question. Good question!
Questioner
Does *inaudible* know the *inaudible* of silver?
Brandon Sanderson
There is lore around silver. I would say no he doesn't, but people who were involved in the lore that eventually came to him did know.
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.
Ward
When Threnodite shades ruin silver, do they ruin it physically, like turning it into silver nitrate or silver phosphate? Or is it more of a, this is actually being transmitted into something not silver any longer?
Brandon Sanderson
That's a Read And Find Out.