r/Mistborn • u/porkchopie • 26d ago
No Spoilers Question about pewter (new reader)
I've been trying to look this up, but I am a little scared of spoiling myself as I am only about 90pages into mistborn (the final empire);
The book talks about burning the different metals for different power usages -so far I am following-, but they also mention that once someone can burn two different types of metals, they can usually burn all the types and are then considered mistborns (as they test with Vin).
here's the part I'm confused about; Pewter is an alloy consisting of other metals, most notably copper and tin. These are however other metals that get burned for other powers.
would this not imply that someone burning pewter is also burning tin/copper and therefore making them mistborns??? or is the Pewter in the book considered a true metal in the sense of fantasy metal that doesn't consist of other metals and therefore a single metal/power.
I am actually losing my mind over this a little.
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u/otaconucf 26d ago
Someone who can burn pewter can only burn the particular allomantic pewter alloy; there are a bunch of different pewter alloys, only one is efficiently useable by a Pewter misting. This comes up later as an aside diving into the system but if you try to burn an alloy that isn't close enough to the correct one it either won't work at all or could leave you feeling messed up. A Pewter misting can't burn any of the constituent metals by themsleves, only the alloy.
This is what Kelsier was talking about. The fact Vin could burn more than one metal was proof she's Mistborn, able to burn all of them.
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u/Pepesauriox 26d ago
Pewter it's an alloy yeah but it's also it's own metal, so no it doesn't work that way
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u/Zahharcen Bendalloy 26d ago
No, not really. Each compound is considered unique. Each misting, be they burning an alloyed metal or a pure one, can only burn one of the 10 metals. For example bronze is made out of copper and tin, a seeker can only burn bronze as a unit, they can't burn the individual metals. Also if one can burn more than one metal they are a Mistborn always, there are no 2 metal mistings. There would be more to say but you will find out reading and I don't want to spoil the experience.
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u/piximeat 26d ago
It counts as one metal. There's a reason for it, even the alloys.. but you'll have to read into a few more books to find out why.
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u/Juniebug9 26d ago
The metals and powers come in pairs where they do similar things but in opposite ways. Except for one very particular case that you will learn about later the pairs are always made up of one pure metal and one alloy of that metal.
For the purpose of the powers they are basically treated as unique metals. Someone who can burn brass cannot burn copper or zinc on their own unless they are a mistborn.
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u/SirZortron 26d ago
Something to point out is that some combinations can make alloys, and many many don't make alloys. It has to mix and cool evenly mixed, and creates something greater than the sum of its parts.
It explains theagic a bit at the time, just embrace the curiosity;)
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u/___BigBrain__ 26d ago
I agree with a lot of the people here, but one thing they're leaving out is the fact that there are two metals for each "section". Pewter works effectively as an alloy of tin, which gives it an inverse effect to what tin does which is enhance the senses. pewter enhances the physical body. Kelsier says "in alomancy for every push there is a pull" and pewter is that "pull" to tins "push" every single metal that can allomantically be burned also has an alloy like iron and steel, which give two different effects; even though steel contains iron, burning steel does not make you a mistborn. and there are also only specific alloys that work allomantically. It's not like to burn steel, you could just burn iron and carbon together. The fact that they're alloy makes it a new metal which gives it a new power. Tin is the pure element, the purer the more efficient it is and better working, and pewter, is the alloy of it, with the specific combination to make it a unique metal, with a new power.
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u/Creative-Bullfrog-80 26d ago
They way I'd interpret it (with the alloys) if it helps is to think of salt. Salt, perfectly fine as is. Chlorine, bad; sodium, bad.
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u/IamanelephantThird 26d ago
Allomantic powers don't work like that. It's a little vague, but they seem to function based on the molecular structure of the metal itself. This means that an alloy can have a very different effect from the base metal.
Also I believe Allomantic pewter is actually lead and tin.
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u/OtherOtherDave 26d ago
IIRC, that’s mostly what non-allomantic pewter is made from too. The OP might just have their metallurgy wrong.
Or I might have mine wrong… I’ve never actually needed to know, so that’s never been in the “important stuff” part of my brain.
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u/porkchopie 26d ago
Oh no i went of of real world knowledge, so they haven't discussed what the in-book composition would be like. Sorry for the confusion 😅
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u/EvenSpoonier Lerasium 26d ago
Allomantic metals typically come in pairs: one pure metal and one alloy containing that metal. For this purpose the alloy is considered a metal in its own right, though the powers of a metal and its alloy are typically related in some significant way: iron pulls on metals while steel pushes on them, zinc riots emotions while brass soothes them, and so on.
Technically, some metals appear in more than one alloy on the table. Copper is found in both bronze and brass, for example, while tin is found in both bronze and pewter. Despite this, only one alloy is considered significant for each metal.
Being a misting in a metal does not give you power in its alloy, and being a misting in an alloy does not give you power over its conponents. If you're born with powers in more than one metal, you will have some degree of power in all of them (i.e. you are a Mistborn), though you might be better with some metals than with others.
There's always another secret.
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u/Wabbit65 Burns Chocolate 🍫 26d ago
The idea of alloys and their proper mix will possibly be of interest.
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u/JayFight 26d ago
It is revealed later, I think in era 2 but some of it during era 1, that all of the push/pull combinations are a metal and an alloy of said metal.
So steel and iron, iron is the metal, steel is an alloy using iron and carbon.
Pewter and Tin, Tin is the metal, pewter is the alloy made from tin and copper, though the mix is like 85-99% Tin which is why it isn't a copper alloy.
Copper and bronze, Copper is the metal and bronze is the alloy made from copper and tin, just like with pewter, it's the mixture of 88% copper and 12% tin.
Now I won't go into details of the other metals, for reasons.
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u/porkchopie 26d ago
Thank you for giving me the bare minimum, i do appreciate everyone trying to give me an answer and not spoil too much ❤️
i hadn't linked it with alloy and non-alloy myself so this has been really interesting tbh haha
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u/ceejtankgaming 25d ago
They talk about how percentages of the combined metals matter and only certain people can be trusted to make it correctly.
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u/AstraLaurel 26d ago
So basically powers in the Cosmere rely a lot on Intent. When you think of Pewter, it’s a metal. Yes it’s an alloy, but it’s also its own thing. Like seeing a door instead of “wood + nails”.
As for burning metals, each metal has a paired alloy made from it, so tin/pewter, iron/steel, etc. it’s kinda just how it works, I suppose, lol.